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PNP exec: Hotline, text line ready before yearend
By AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News
A national hotline, which the public may call or text in times of emergency, is expected to be operational before the year ends, a Philippine National Police official said Tuesday.
Chief Supt. Rene Ong, of the PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations, said the PNP was in the final stages of consultations with telecommunication companies for a national hotline.
“I cannot give you yet a definite date but we are giving priority to this project. Possible (operational na this year). Ang gusto ng PNP is to operationalize this as soon as possible,” he told reporters after the Senate hearing on PNP modernization program.
He said the possible numbers are 118 for calls and 2181 for text messages.
“(Those are the numbers) pero hindi pa final. We still have to work with telephone companies,” he said.
He said the PNP is negotiating with the telecom companies on the services that would be provided.
Asked if the calls would be toll-free for those who would be calling from the provinces, Ong said: “That’s part of the negotiations we are conducting. Right now they are charging P2.50 per SMS.”
“We are in consultation sa mga project proposals na sinumbmit sa amin sa pagprovide ng PNP hotline,” he added.
Asked how much the project would cost, the police officials said the initial cost was P8 million but the final amount would depend on the services the proponents would be providing.
Ong said that they would be needing 30 personnel who would handle the calls and text messages in 24 hours.
“Dun sa 10 seats that will be on duty for eight hours so all in all sa isang araw may 30 na parang call center agents who will work on 24-hour basis. Initially yun lang muna ang in-estimate namin. We need 30 personnel to work on a 24-hour basis,” he said.
He added that the office of the hotline would be set up in Camp Crame.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the PNP should make sure that the calls would be immediately relayed to the concerned police stations especially in the provinces.
Ong said they have a system to contact their police stations.
At present the country’s hotline is 117 but most of the calls it received were merely for directory assistance and pranks. On the other hand, Davao City has 911 and Marikina City has 171 for their emergency numbers. —NB, GMA News
Tags: pnphotline
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