BFP official: Pinoys’ lack of discipline on the road hampers disaster response

The Filipinos' lack of discipline on the road contributes to the delay in disaster response, an official from the Bureau of Fire Protection said Thursday.

In an interview with News To Go, BFP spokesman Supt. Renato Marcial said though they normally have a five- to seven-minute average response time, traffic and motorists not giving way to the fire trucks hold back their work.

"Kahit may wang-wang na, may sirena, hindi pa rin tumatabi," Marcial said. "Isa pa 'yung mga double parking."

Marcial noted that causing obstruction or delay in firemen's response may be penalized by six months to six years in jail or a fine of not less than P50,000 under the Fire Code of the Philippines.

'Man-made disasters'

Michael Deakin, managing director of Lifeline Ambulance Rescue, Inc., echoed Marcial, adding that aside from the usual problems with traffic, avoidable circumstances -- such as blocking the road for protests -- also add up to problems.

During the interview, he took note of the recent Iglesia ni Cristo rally along Shaw Boulevard, which he said led to a 60-percent failure on their part to answer to emergency situations.

"It's a main artery. We had, in total over the four days, a total of 293 emergency calls -- 88 of which we responded to, 154 were denied because we couldn't get through," he said.

"Even if we tried the contraction of the crowd, sobrang dami," he added, as he described such gatherings as "man-made disasters."

"That's a man-made disaster... How do you tell a family member that we cannot reach their loved ones because of a rally? We can deal with Ondoy, Milenyo, Yolanda... That's bad enough, but that's nature. When it's man-made, it's avoidable," he said.

He added: "It's just a matter of proper planning. It's your right to protest, it's no problem, go ahead but do it properly -- it has to be properly planned, get a permit."

Discipline

Deakin, however, noted than for their agency, the average response rate is at 12 minutes, as they try to comply with the international rules of the "golden hour," which means the patient must be transported and endorsed to a hospital within 60 minutes.

Both him and Marcial called on the public to help in disaster response.

"Time is of the essence. We need to get to the emergecy as fast as possible. If discipline is not there and they're blocking the roads, we're endangering lives," Deakin said.

He added given the benefits of technology, such as CCTV cameras, the government must be able to enforce the laws to penalize those who obstruct emergency responses.

But for Marcial, discipline should go hand in hand with enforcement, engineering and education.  "Hindi pwedeng magturu-turuan lang tayo dito," he said. —Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/KBK, GMA News