Baguio 911 team steps up during calamities

The Baguio 911 team was one of the city government offices that stepped up during the onslaught of severe tropical storm “Crising”, tropical storm “Dante”, typhoon “Emong” and the southwest monsoon.

Smart City Command Center Officer-in-Charge System Analyst IV Adam Bert Lacay who supervises the team said the team kept vigil receiving and trafficking calls from the public and getting them across appropriate agencies and offices to expedite response.

From July 18-28, 2025, the unit received 38 typhoon-related calls including a landslide incident where one person was trapped.

Others were for busted transformers and sparking electrical wires, leaning or fallen trees and posts, flooding, sagging wires, collapsed riprap walls and others.

These typhoon-related concerns were on top of the close to 500 calls received during said period. Said calls dealt with miscellaneous matters.

All these calls are trafficked and relayed to concerned offices for immediate action.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the Baguio 911 has continued to develop as a “cornerstone of the city’s public safety infrastructure offering residents a crucial resource for emergency response” since its commissioning on Oct. 12, 2021.

Latest data analytics of the service being operated at the Baguio Smart City Command Center (SC3) showed steady increase in the number of calls being received by the helpline proving that more people are turning to it now for assistance.

In 2024, the Baguio 911 received and managed a total of 80,313 calls. Legitimate calls of emergency and non-emergency nature totaled P17,006 which is a 127.93 percent increase from 2003 figure of 7,461.

There were 3,328 calls for emergency assistance in 2024 which were attended to by offices concerned including the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) and the Emergency Medical Service and 13,678 calls on inquiries and general assistance which were also promptly attended.

Prank calls continued to decline at 990 from last year’s 4,081 or a decrease of 75.74 percent. Drop calls and unresponsive calls continue to be a challenge at 26,545 and 32,240 respectively. Wrong number calls were at 3,532. – Aileen P. Refuerzo