THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday said that the recently launched Unified 911 system achieved a 94.42% efficiency rate during its first day of operation on Sept. 11, successfully handling 57,786 of the 60,323 calls received.
“This major improvement marks a significant leap in modernizing the country’s emergency services, ensuring faster and more reliable assistance for those in urgent need of assistance,” the DILG said in a statement posted on its website.
In 2024, it recorded an efficiency rate of 48.33% out of 22.3 million calls received and 70.71% recorded in early 2025 before the official launch, when system upgrades had already been introduced.
The agency noted that the increased efficiency rate is attributed to a “vastly improved response framework.” and not due to a decrease in demand.
Of the total number of calls during the launch date, 3,537 calls were identified as test, abandoned, or prank calls.
DILG Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” C. Remulla, Jr. earlier warned against prank callers who misuse the system, noting that they would face consequences such as being deprioritized in future calls.
He also appealed to the public to use the system responsibly and to think twice before misusing it.
With the new Unified 911 system, all emergency calls will now be routed through a single integrated network instead of the previously fragmented hotlines.
The system, developed in collaboration with the DILG, PLDT Inc., led by Manuel V. Pangilinan, and Next-Generation Advanced 911 (NGA 911), is free and available 24/7.
NGA 911, the system’s technology provider, also told BusinessWorld last week that it will help the government expand the service nationwide within the next three years.
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