In a Palace briefing, Remulla said that 60 percent of the calls to 911 centers were pranks because the SIM Card Registration Act does not integrate the National ID.

“The problem is, the National ID system is not integrated in our telcos (telecommunication companies). That's why POGOs proliferated because the SIM Card Registration Act we implemented has not been very effective since there is no National ID attached. Sometimes, one person can have a hundred SIM cards purchased. So, that has to be integrated also,” Remulla said.

Remulla added that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to restore the funds earmarked for the Information Technology (IT) program of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“So, as instructed by the President to our Budget Secretary, the IT budget will be reverted, and the additional 500 million pesos intelligence fund included in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) will be removed. So, it will return to the original budget of around 820 million for the PNP, which had increased to 1.3 billion ? it will be restored to its previous amount,” Remulla said.

“The savings from that will fun the launching and bidding out process of the integrated 911 system for the whole Philippines. So, from intelligence fund the funds will be transferred to the 911. So, it will be a fully audited system under scrutinous bidding,” he added.

Remulla said the new 911 system will be “language-senstive” and will fully integrate devices and responders.

“The 911 system will be fully integrated and language-sensitive across the Philippines. So, if you’re in Ilocos, someone speaking Ilocano will answer you, if you’re in Pampanga, a Kapampangan responder will assist you; if you’re in Bicol, someone who speaks Oragon will respond, and so on and so forth. It’s language-specific,” Remulla said.

Every fire truck will now also be equipped with an ambulance because we have 5,000 nurses in the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and we will utilize their capacity. When a fire truck arrives, an ambulance will also arrive, which is not the standard practice right now,” he said.

He added that the system will also “have full integration from the caller, to the call center, to dispatch. This includes body cameras and location devices for every police car and the body cameras of each responding police officer. It will also feature hyperlinks to video communication.” Jaspearl Tan/DMS