WATCH: How quick is Davao City's version of 911?
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DAVAO CITY – For a boy who was hit by a passenger jeepney in Davao City on Monday, five minutes was all it took for policemen and paramedics to respond to the scene, thanks to a well-oiled rescue hotline system.
Police took the driver into custody and cordoned off the scene to keep onlookers at bay while the boy, who is believed to be around 10 years old, was swiftly transferred to a gurney and wheeled onto a waiting ambulance.
Residents of this city ruled for over two decades by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said projects like Davao’s version of the 911 emergency system in the US show how their hometown has become a model for other local governments.
“Kung magtutulungan po tayo at iyung local government officials gagawa ng ganitong hakbang, we make this in the whole Philippines,” said city police spokeswoman Chief Inspector Milgrace Driz.
“Nagawa ng Davao City, why not sa buong bansa?” Driz told ABS-CBN News.
Police and medical teams patrol specific sections of the southern metropolis and are easily deployed once 911 dispatchers receive calls for help, Driz said.
Police arrived on the scene in three minutes while the paramedics arrived three minutes later, she said.
Davao’s 911 service is among the first in Asia. Unlike its foreign counterparts, is free of charge and funded by the local government, city legal officer Enrique Bonocan told ABS-CBN News.
The service’s nerve center, with giant screens connected to the city’s surveillance cameras, is located in Ecoland, the city’s outskirts.
Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News