Efficiency rate of Unified 911 hotline now 96%, says DILG

The Unified 911 emergency hotline system has seen a huge increase in efficacy since recent modernization efforts, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.

At a media conference on Tuesday, DILG Emergency 911 National Office Executive Director Francis Fajardo said that they dealt with a lot of prank or false calls in 2024, leading to a low efficiency rate due to the manual sorting system they used for their calls.

“Maraming lumoloko at sumusubok ng 911 kung gumagana ba o hindi…. We received na 32 million incoming calls. Ang na-handle natin is 10 million. Ang efficiency rate natin is 48% handled calls over the incoming calls. Medyo mababa po yan. Di pa po namo-modernize ang 911 last year [ng] 2024,” he shared.

(A lot were joking around and trying to see if 911 actually worked or not… We received 32 million incoming calls. We handled 10 million. Our efficiency rate was 48% handled calls over the incoming calls. That was pretty low. Last year 911 hadn’t been modernized yet.)

However, he noted that the system has now handled 1,769,477 calls from September to October 2025, starting from September 11 when it went live.

"Ang efficiency rate na ngayon ng Unified 911 is 96.56% compared dito sa year ng 2024 na 48%. Ganito ka-significant yung changes na nangyare through the launch ng 911 and sa modernize ng ating system,” he said.

(Unified 911’s efficiency rate is now 96.56% compared to 2024’s 48%. This is how significant the changes that happened through the 911 launch is, as well as the modernization of our system.)

The Unified 911 system consolidates all local emergency hotline numbers to a standardized “9-1-1.”

With several call centers stationed nationwide and regional chapters soon to operate, the DILG has targeted a free-of-charge 5-minute emergency response system linking the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and local governments.

Fajardo said that part of the increase in its efficacy could be attributed to a better filtering of prank callers and bot calls.

“Before, hindi pa modernized at manual pa ang ating 911. Hindi natin nafifilter. Ngayon, modernized na…. Nakita na natin ang napakaraming robocalls [at] nafifilter na natin pati mga prank callers. Through public awareness, nasasabi na natin na iwasan na ang prank calls. Ngayon, naiiintidihan na ng mga kababayan natin ang paggamit ng emergency calls sa Unified 911,” he said.

(Before, 911 hadn’t been modernized yet and was still manual. We weren’t able to filter it. Now, it’s modernized already… We were able to see that there were many robocalls [and] we are now able to filter even prank callers. Through public awareness, we can tell them to avoid prank calls. Now, the public can understand the use of emergency calls under Unified 911.)

He added that they are working with the PNP to locate and identify prank callers. — BM, GMA Integrated News