Cebu needs emergency hotline

DO YOU know what number to dial when there’s a fire, an accident, an ongoing crime or any emergency?

Eddie O. Barrita

Small bites

View profile

If not, get hold of the nearest directory where the phone numbers of individual police stations, fire departments and hospitals are listed.

There’s the 166 police hotline and the 160 for the fire department.

But would you rather not have just hotline number to call?

***

Several sectors are pushing for 911 as Metro Cebu’s emergency hotline number as part of a centralized system of responding to emergencies and crisis situations, traffic management and peace and order.

Davao City established its own Davao Central 911 in September 2003 when Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was city mayor.

Davao Central 911 Head Emmanuel Jaldon said putting up and operating a similar centralized emergency response unit in Metro Cebu needs political will and private sector help.

But who among Metro Cebu’s leaders has the political will?

***

Davao City’s example tells us 911 is not simply a number.

Its key component is the Emergency Computer Aided Dispatch System that helps authorities locate the origin of emergency calls and facilitate response.

Davao Central 911 operates on a P70-million annual budget, which includes the salary of its 400 employees and maintenance of its fleet of emergency response vehicles and some 100 mobile patrol cars.

Yes, it’s costly but it’s worth it.

***

Pope Francis, the former Buenos Aires, Argentina Archbishop Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, is the new head of the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide.

Reports said he loves the poor and shuns a life of luxury.

God’s CEO on earth must love the poor. It has been said God loves the poor so much He made so many of them.

He was trained as a chemist. Perhaps he has the solutions to the problems of the Church.