For Government Complaints: 8888 / Hotline 911 Ready NOW

By Kristine B. Quintas, Mylen P. Manto, Odessa O. Leyson (The Freeman)

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Telephone numbers 911 and 8888 are the national emergency and citizen complaint hotline numbers, respectively. The nationwide hotline is one of President Rodrigo Duterte's measures to fight crime and corruption in three to six months. File photo

CEBU, Philippines – Starting today, a 24-hour hotline for citizen complaints and an emergency hotline are already accessible to all Filipinos.

However, for emergencies, a Cebu City councilor said with the emergency hotline system being new, it may be best to call the city's Command Center immediately for now. This is because the 911 system forwards the caller, instead of the information, to the right agency.

Telephone numbers 911 and 8888 are the national emergency and citizen complaint hotline numbers, respectively. The nationwide hotline is one of President Rodrigo Duterte's measures to fight crime and corruption in three to six months.

According to the Department of Interior and Local Government, the 911nationwide hotline will connect the caller to emergency, rescue, police, or fire services.

Earlier, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said all calls to 911 will also be rerouted to the existing Patrol 117 program while the 911 command center has yet to be established.

Telecommunications and digital services provider PLDT, together with subsidiaries Smart and ePLDT, promised to fully cooperate with the government for the nationwide emergency hotline, while Globe Telecom said they would charge P5 per call to the hotline.

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DILG Ismael Sueño earlier said all calls to 911 and 117 will still be shouldered by the callers from August until a new MOA is signed by the agencies concerned and a new executive order is issued by Duterte.

When sought for comments, Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura, chairman of the Committee on Peace and Order, said he has reservations with the full-blown implementation of a nationwide emergency hotline 911, replacing 117.

Shimura clarified that although he is not against it, he said it could be subject to abuse.

He also said the 8888 hotline might be used as a tool to ruin a government employee's life, reputation or career by feeding wrong information.

The concerns or complaints of citizens will be relayed to the proper government agencies through the said hotline, where ordinary Filipinos can call in to report corrupt officials, underperforming government personnel, and unfinished government projects.

"I'm not objecting this. Uyon ko sa hotline for criminalities. Pero kaning for complaint, makulbaan pud ta oy for the employees of the government nga ma-terminate," he said.

He said safety nets must also be put in place.

"Kay basin matangtang lang kadtong maayong trabahante sa gobyerno without good reason," he added.

Shimura is appealing to the public not to make prank calls as this would deprive others who are really in need of immediate attention.

DILG Undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. earlier said that there is a need to educate the Filipinos on the use 911 to avoid test and prank calls.

The emergency hotline 117 reportedly received an average of 57 hang and prank calls per hour last year.

With the launching and official operation of the new emergency hotline, the government expects a total of 2,730 hang and prank calls out of the anticipated 3,003 calls per hour.

PNP Ready

The PNP is ready for the implementation of the 911 hotline.

Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño, regional director of Police Regional Office-7 said the concept of 911 hotline is that an operator can connect a caller with the agency he or she wants to reach.

"Like sa fire, if tatawag ka sa 911, the operator will connect you sa Bureau of Fire. Kahit anong concerns and emergencies pwede ka tumawag dito," he said, adding same goes with the police stations.

However, he said if the caller has the direct telephone or cellphone number to the BFP or police stations, they can directly call the number without dialing 911.

"Mas madali kung direct line... if you have the number," Taliño added.

Cebu City Police Office director, Senior Superintendent Joel Doria said they are also ready of the implementation of 911 hotline while Senior Superintendent Jose Macanas, provincial director of Cebu Provincial Police Office, said the implementation of the 911 hotline is a good idea since the one being implemented in Davao City is very effective.

"Ito yong ipinu-push ng present administration at yung police ay magko-complement nito," he said.

In cases of robbery for example, he said the caller can call 911 and the operator will contact the nearest police station where the incident took place.

"With this, iikli ang mundo ng mga kriminal," he said.

Call Command Center instead

After test dialing 911 yesterday evening, Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak said it took almost 4 to 5 minutes before the message was relayed to the local Command Center.

"Akong gi-orasan diri, it takes almost 2 minutes og mo-dial kag 911, Manila operator will answer your call, then they receive your emergency call, 911 will connect to Patrol 117 sa Region 7. Then human sa 117 it takes a few minutes, mo-connect napud sa Command Center diri sa Cebu City for dispatch. So approximately between 4 minutes to 5 minutes," he said.

Tumulak said that the caller will keep on repeating the message to the emergency hotline considering that it will relayed to another emergency hotline until it reaches the local command center.

With this, as the chairman of peace and order committee, he urged the Cebu City residents to directly call the city's Command Center for prompt response.

"Delayed response g'yud, this is an advice to the Cebu City residents. I would rather direct call sa Command Center diri sa Cebu City para maka-save og oras. Para ba nay immediate response ba. Can you imagine ikaw caller, mosulti paka sa imong nature, magbalik balik paka sa imong isulti," he added.

To further address this, Tumulak said he already drafted a resolution asking the DILG, Office of the Civil Defense, Office of the President, among others, to discuss the 911 system to educate the citizens.

"There should be a proper coordination among responders and the call takers which is the 911 because it takes time. Dili man gud na directly. If in case emergency if you wanted to respond directly dili ma-attach sa concerned agency, mura gihapon sila og call center," Tumulak said.

"So there should be more direct way g'yud unta nga tawag supposedly, mao raman gihapon na siya sa previous nga Patrol 117," he added.

The resolution of Tumulak will be discussed this Tuesday, in the regular council session.

The Cebu City Command Center has recorded 5,343 emergency calls from January to May this year, he said. — /BRP (FREEMAN)

Inday Sara Tasks Davao City Administrator to Go After Erring Officials

By Christine C. Cudis (philstar.com)

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In this June 20, 2016 photo, president-elect Rodrigo Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, takes oath as Davao City Mayor. Vice Mayor Pulong Duterte, Facebook

DAVAO CITY — Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio wants clean officials and employees working in the city government.

 

Duterte-Carpio has appointed acting City Administrator Atty. Tristan Dwight Domingo to file administrative or judicial charges on government workers involved in irregularities.

 

She signed the order that delegated some of her functions and duties to Domingo as mandated by the Republic Act No. 7160 or the 1991 Local Government Code.

 

Domingo will have the power to file charges "against any official or employee of the city who may have committed an offense in the performance of his officials duties, and functions."

 

The mayor has instructed Domingo to ensure that all employees and officials under the city's executive department are doing their jobs.

 

"And if they are not, Domingo's task is to run after them," Duterte-Carpio challenged.

 

The acting city administrator was also told to supervise and manage the affairs of the executive offices of the local government. He will also sign documents on behalf of the city mayor.

 

“Considering the magnitude of the functions and duties of the City Mayor and the need to provide appropriate action to any/or all matters that require urgent as well as quick pro-active response, there is a need to delegate some of the inherent powers, functions, and duties of the City Mayor to the Acting City Administrator,” Sara stated in the executive order.

Filipinos Optimism Hits New Record Highs

By Leslie D. Venzon (philstar.com) 

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The survey, conducted a week before President Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office, indicated that 60 percent of Filipino adults were hopeful that the Philippine economy would be better in one year. STAR/file

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) — Filipinos’ optimism about the quality of their lives and the economy reached new record highs during the second quarter of 2016, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said.

 

The SWS survey conducted from June 24-25 showed that 49 percent of Filipino adults nationwide were expecting an improvement in their quality of life in the next 12 months. Only 3 percent were pessimistic.

 

These brought net optimism at “record very high” at +46.

 

The survey, conducted a week before President Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office, also indicated that 60 percent of Filipino adults were hopeful that the Philippine economy would be better in one year.

 

Measly 4 percent of them believed it would be worse, resulting in net optimism about the economy also at a record very high at +56.

 

The same survey said 30 percent of Filipino adults claimed their lives improved in the last 12 months while 21 percent of them said it was worse. Net gainers reached +9.

 

The survey was conducted among 1,200 Filipino adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Humiliation and Death for Boxes of "Tuyo"

Inquirer Southern Luzon

By: Maricar Cinco

COUPLES suspected of selling or using illegal drugs are paraded in Tanauan City, Batangas, as part of the city government’s campaign to shame criminals. PHOTO COURTESY OF TANAUAN CITY GOVERNMENT

Do you want Papa to give you baon (school allowance)?” Pedro Balaba Jr. asked his children before he left their house in Tanauan City in Batangas province one night in January.

But how and where he would get the money was a question his wife, Girlie Lopez, learned not to ask.

The next morning, Balaba, 28, did not come home. Instead, his body, riddled with bullets, turned up under a footbridge a few meters from the barangay hall of Darasa in Tanauan. No one saw the killing or heard gunshots fired, but a bicycle that was not his was found beside him.

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Balaba’s death on Jan. 26 was briefly recorded in the barangay logbook. The city police did not have any suspect, leaving it as another cold case.

“We could not say [who was behind it],” a resigned Lopez said. “Maybe there were too many people angry at him.”

Market thief

Lopez, 34, met Balaba, a native of Nueva Ecija province, about five years ago. They had four children, the youngest a 10-month-old boy. Balaba earned loose change from being a porter at the city market, she said.

Life was hard that Lopez’s monthly salary of P4,900 as a caretaker of the barangay hall was barely enough. That might have driven her husband to steal, she said.

Lopez also said Balaba sometimes used illegal drugs. “He was an occasional user,” she said in Filipino.

According to police records, Balaba was arrested on July 4, 2013, for stealing vegetables valued at P2,800, and again on Feb. 26, 2014, for stealing boxes of tuyo (dried fish), worth P16,000, from a market vendor. On the second offense, he spent a year and two months in jail.

Shame campaign

Prison time, though, was not the only form of punishment he would receive. In March 2014, the city government paraded him around the market with a placard branding him a magnanakaw (thief) and pieces of dried fish dangling from the waist.

“I felt sorry for him,” Lopez recalled. “But I pitied my children more because they were bullied in school.”

Balaba was the first crime suspect who underwent public shaming. The city government called it a “walk of shame,” resembling the medieval walk of atonement.

The public humiliation drew varied reactions. Some supported it while others criticized it as mental torture.

In July 2015, a man arrested for stealing P3,000 worth of cable wires also took Balaba’s route. This year, the walk of shame was staged six more times and more frequently. It involved one suspected rapist and users of illegal drugs.

Lesson

MAYOR ANTONIO HALILI

“[My intention] is to warn people. If you see these people [tagged as drug users], you would not want any of your family near them. The public has the right to that information,” Mayor Antonio Halili told the Inquirer.

It was also meant to teach crime suspects a lesson so they would not repeat their offense, he said.

But Balaba, after his release, went back to stealing. “He used to carry this long knife and steal bikes from houses,” said a village watchman, who requested anonymity.

The shame parades became frequent and “thematic” by the time then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won as President.

On May 23, the city government forced 11 drug suspects to walk under arches that read “Flores de Pusher,” simulating the traditional Santacruzan.

On June 19, the theme was “June Brides and Grooms,” involving seven suspected drug users. The women in the batch were forced to carry a bouquet. It was an “Independence Day” theme on July 7, involving six drug suspects.

Gerard Laresma, Tanauan information officer, said the city wanted to add a little “drama” to draw public attention.

“This began even before [the Duterte administration started office]. I declared a war on drugs since I took office,” said Halili, who won a second term in the May elections under the Liberal Party.

The mayor said Tanauan was once a haven of illegal drug trade. “I used to send them (suspected drug pushers) letters. I invited them to my office and talked them into changing their ways. There were some who listened,” he said.

This method, he said, forced pushers to leave, with some transferring to nearby towns and cities in Batangas. “I can’t do anything about that anymore (since) it’s already outside my jurisdiction,” he said.

Mayor’s group

Those paraded on the streets of Tanauan are only those arrested by the Mayor’s Anti-Crime Group (MACG), a group of about 70 civilians employed by the city government. Some of the MACG members have been issued firearms to augment the police force in curbing crime in the city.

After the walk, the suspects are immediately turned over to police officers, who would file charges in court and detain them.

Halili handpicked Allan Fajardo, a wealthy trader engaged in the scrapping business, to head the MACG.

Fajardo’s older brother, Rolando, was the suspected leader of a kidnap group behind the 1986 abduction of Japanese trader Noboyuki Wakaoji. Another brother, Polmark, is the village chief of Suplang in Tanauan and president of the Association of Barangay Councils.

“He is not his brother’s keeper, so to speak,” Halili said. “I needed someone with determination. [Allan] is very disciplined and he is very ‘clean.’”

The mayor denied that the MACG was his private armed group.

Incorrigible

So far, 35 suspected criminals have been forced to take the walk of shame. According to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), some are still detained.

“Whatever the law mandates has to be strictly adhered to by government agencies and instrumentalities. They are meting out punishments [even when suspects are not yet convicted],” said Jacqueline dela Peña, CHR director in Southern Tagalog region.

The CHR filed charges against Halili and the MACG for violating the human rights law on the first two instances. It is still investigating the rest of the cases, while closely monitoring the status of the victims.

“These people are incorrigible,” said Halili, who is earning the reputation as “Junior Duterte” for being tough on his policies, akin to the tough stance shown by President Duterte against crime in his 23 years as mayor of Davao City.

In defense of his campaign, Halili said the city’s crime rate significantly went down by deterring would-be criminals.

While he did not provide figures, Supt. Robert Baesa, the newly appointed city police chief, said the crime rate was lower than those recorded in Batangas and Lipa cities.

Tanauan’s Facebook account shows a video footage of a 3-minute interview with Balaba behind bars last year. A male voice could be heard asking him questions, such as “Did you think the CHR was right to accuse Mayor (Halili)?” Or “in short, are you admitting your offenses?”

In the footage, Balaba said he deserved what the mayor did to him and promised to change his ways once released. He repeatedly asked for help to find a job so he could send his children to school.

Balaba already lost that chance.