911 and 8888 are for the people

Within a month after assuming office at Malacañang Palace, President Rodrigo Duterte set the tone of governance that puts premium to speedy public assistance and convenience for the transacting public. By his action-oriented leadership, President Duterte makes himself a model of how other officials in both national and local government agencies should conduct themselves as public servants.

By his deeds – and not in mere words – President Duterte leads by example. In all his public pronouncements, the former Davao City mayor makes mention that all of them in the government service – from the President down to the rank-and-file – must serve the people who pay for their salaries.

This reminded me of the oft-repeated line first delivered in the inaugural speech of former President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III who addressed the Filipino people as his bosses: “kayo ang boss ko.” Alas, however, it turned to be mere sloganeering by the Aquino administration rather than actually felt by us taxpayers.

Real governance lies in the ability of government to listen to the people and act on issues and challenges that impact on their lives immediately. Oftentimes, there need not be any complicated process to this mandate.

Everyone, of course, would not argue but in fact agree with President Duterte’s oft-repeated pronouncements that public service can’t wait. More so, for emergencies – including manmade and natural calamities, and reporting about ill practices of government officials and employees in any state agency even if anonymously through some kind of public complaint system.

This we saw in the first 50 days in office of President Duterte with the activation of 911 National Emergency Hotline Numbers and the 8888 National Complaint Hotline Numbers.

The 911 and the 8888 hotlines were put together by inter-agency system headed by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. The other agencies include the  Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT); the Civil Service Commission (CSC); the Presidential Action Center (PAC), and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Taking the cue from President Duterte’s pronouncements before and after his inaugural speech, private telecommunication companies, or telcos, like Globe Telecom and the Smart-PLDT (Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co.) have joined this public service project.

In this case, telephone numbers are the only divide. And these numbers – a three-digit emergency line and a four-digit complaint line – are transforming the way people interact with their government. And how this national leadership led by President Duterte empowers the people by just the tip of our fingers.

This emergency and complaint hotline system is part of the process of real change. It reflects the simplistic approach of the Duterte government in addressing many problems that have continued to weigh down the public.

Now as the country’s Chief Executive, President Duterte wants all those in the government service to get a clear grasp of what’s happening on the ground. He clearly understands the problems of the public having been a long-time local executive who personally interacts and mingles with his constituents.

The system is replicated at local levels. Recently, Globe Telecom and the Davao City government entered into a joint cooperative project. An offshoot of the deadly bomb attack of the night market in Davao City last Sept.2, Globe Telecom collaborated with Mayor Sara Duterte to help improve the peace and order situation in the city.

Globe put up a hotline, 0917-Duterte (0917-3883783), to receive calls and texts relating to security concerns in Davao City. Specifically, 0917-Duterte will serve as a special and dedicated mobile number for calls and texts from Davaoeños who will report possible leads to catch the perpetrators of the recent bombing incident.

“The hotline will definitely pave the way for a more concerted and collaborative effort from the people of Davao City to combat acts of senseless terrorism,” the mayor cited.

Globe is also providing inbound and outbound SMS accessibility for the public to directly report incidents to the Philippine National Police (PNP) via 2286 (Bato). Obviously, the SMS hotline is a takeoff from the name of the popular PNP director-general Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

President Duterte is now trying to scale up his brand of leadership to the national level. Of course, there are plenty of programs and policies that need to be drawn up and implemented to institute the change that he has promised. The 911 and 8888 are concrete measures that he has put in place as part of this agenda of change.

Such simple but relevant measures like institutionalizing these hotline numbers are being put into place to slowly uplift people’s lives. Giving back to the people shouldn’t be difficult had much-needed resources not been lost to corruption.

It has been all systems go for these two hotline numbers since August 1, 2016. Birth pains are expected with the implementation of these emergency numbers.

Unfortunately, some heartless pranksters who apparently have nothing better to do make false emergency calls while some even engage in hoax bomb threat tips.

Dialing these numbers translate to a government that listens to the cries of its people and looks after their welfare.

A gentle reminder though. It is not enough that systems are put in place in a short period of time. Properly executing the service is just as important.

The government agencies and their private partners that spearhead these projects must deliver the service efficiently and professionally as the President’s credibility is on the line.

And, if I read the Chief Executive right, mandates are delivered subtly but output must be delivered solidly. Hotlines 911 and 8888 are important measures to reinstate the people’s trust in government.