The town of Morong, a second-class municipality in Rizal, scored a feat this May by being the first-ever local government unit in the Philippines and the first in Southeast Asia, to put in place a world-class, state-of-the-art emergency response center with the Next Generation 911 System used in the USA to better serve their residents.

Executive Director Francis Fajardo of the Emergency 911 National Office and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary for External, Legal and Legislative Affairs Atty. Juan Victor Llamas, activated Morong’s Emergency 911 Hotline Number at the inauguration of Morong’s E911 Local Command Center in Sitio Paglabas, Bgy. San Pedro on May 6.

Fajardo hailed the establishment of the first E911 command center in the country as “a significant step forward in providing efficient and effective emergency response services to every corner of the nation.”

“This center will serve as the nerve center for emergency operations in Morong. It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and staffed by dedicated personnel trained to handle any crisis with precision and professionalism,” Fajardo said.

Usec. Llamas congratulated the officials of Morong for being the first local government unit with a Next Generation 911 System in the country and said that Secretary Benjamin Abalos and the DILG supports the project.

“Morong will be placed in history as the pioneer LGU to use Emergency 911, made possible with the help of NGA 911”, Llamas said.

Morong will now be able to use the emergency 911 hotline instead of the current ten-digit number for emergency calls. Fajardo revealed that guided by the fundamental principles of the Bagong Pilipinas brand of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, his office and the DILG jointly aim “to localize the emergency 911 hotline nationwide in order to fulfill our mandate under Executive Order No. 56 for the institutionalization of E911 as nationwide answering point that conforms with the international standard for emergency hotline number”.

In April 2023, Morong town officials led by Mayor Sidney Soriano and Vice Mayor Jose Fred Feliciano signed an agreement with NGA Philippines (NGA) to provide Morong with world-class and complete solutions for emergency communication and public

safety services. NGA Philippines is the local subsidiary of multinational corporation NGA 911, LLC headquartered in California, USA.

NGA is known globally as the innovator of emergency calling technology used by many states in the USA, and the leader in Next Generation 911 (NG911) emergency communications worldwide, NGA’s system is built on the industry standards adopted by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) in the United States and the European Emergency Number Association (EENA).

NGA Philippines’ Country Head Robert Llaguno said Morong’s investment in the emergency NG911 system presently used in the United States pioneers the use of technology in the country that will revolutionize the way and speed with which the LGU can handle emergencies. “NGA is prepared to bring the state-of-the-art E911 system to other LGUs in the archipelago, one LGU at a time”.

“All 911 calls to the Morong DRRM Command Center are now fully recorded, and conference and transfer facilities are now seamless,” explained Llaguno. “There is more efficient dispatch and coordination. The LGU will also be able to pinpoint with high accuracy the location of the emergency call and associate the same with the closest responders to provide a more immediate response.”

Llaguno said there are several other LGUs that will follow Morong’s lead within the next two quarters: one in North Luzon, one in Visayas and one in Mindanao.

“There is a growing number [of LGUs] shifting to Next Generation 911 and we are seeing a lot of local chief executives prioritizing public safety [for their constituents],” he added.