Live in the Philippines

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Davao City 911 Center

Davao City, Safety / by

Update March 2009: Yesterday, a friend who lives in the Philippines had some health problems.  He texted me and asked if there is 911 in the Philippines.  I told him that it is only available in Davao, but now that I thought about it, there are a couple of other cities that have it too.  Here in Davao, though, we have a full compliment of paramedics and everything necessary for emergency response.  This is an important consideration when you are deciding where you might live in the Philippines.  Are emergency services available, and can they offer quick service when needed?  Because of this inquiry, I decided to feature this post again so that people could see what kind of services are available in Davao City.

Two weeks ago, I made a visit to the Davao City 911 Center with a group that I belong to called “Friends of Mindanao.”  The group visit to the 911 Center was arranged by my friend, Rick Bowden.  Rick is a neighbor or Mario Monsanto, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the Davao City 911 Center.  Mario reports directly to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

I can’t describe how impressed I was with the 911 Center, it is so modern, well staffed, and the personell are very efficient.  The training that they 911 people recieve is very thorough and up to date, and their professionalism was very clear to see.

At this time, Davao is one of only a handful of Cities in the Philippines that have 911 Emergency Services.  Currently other such centers are operated by Makati City (part of Metro Manila) and by Cebu City.  Iligan City is currently working with Davao to learn the ins and outs of setting up such a system there.

Have a look at the video of our visit to Davao City 911:

The 911 Center in Davao is in charge of dispatching all of the emergency services in Davao, everything from Police to Medical Services.  The people at 911 own and operate 10 Ambulances and they have paramedics to handle services while en-route to the hospital facility.  One thing that was quite impressive is that all services offered by 911 are free for the public.  911 can also be accessed through any land line telephone, and also through each of the cellular networks in Davao City.

I would like to thank Mario Monsanto for offering such a great tour of the facility, and also to Rick Bowden for arranging the visit!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kamusta bob
    im impressed that davao has 911 services.i didnt know philippines had such a impressive center like that.that is very good to know when visiting davao.especially saving people with a fast responce team.
    thanks for sharing this article bob

  2. Hi Ron w:

    Thanks for your comment! Yes, I was also very impressed by the 911 center. I had seen the place there before and passed by, while driving, but I had no idea how modern and well-equipped it was. Getting the chance to tour the place was really a nice opportunity, and I enjoyed it, and left well-informed about the place.

  3. Hi Bob, impressive isn’t it? Thanks to Mayor Duterte for that. One thing I am also very impressed with is our volunteer fire brigade set up by the Chinese community. They’ve always been there as far back as I could remember, very well organized, well trained and almost always first to arrive.I guess it was borne out of necessity – if you’ve seen Chinatown you will know why 😀 Come to think of it, their phone number is still posted in front of the telephone at my parents’ house.
    Cheers, Ellen

  4. Hi Ellen:

    Yes, it is very impressive. And you’re right, the mayor gets all the thanks for that.

    The Chinese fire brigade is impressive as well. Maybe I can write a story on them some time to.

    Thanks for your comment!

  5. When I lived in Seoul, Korea in 1994-1995, I was completely unimpressed with emergency services. When I have more training than the person who arrives with the ambulance, we are all in trouble.

    It sounds like Davao is miles ahead of that!

  6. Hi Tom N: I really have to say Tom, that I was so impressed with the services there. The personnel seem to be very well-trained to. From what you describe in South Korea, it would seem that Davao is miles ahead, as you say.

  7. Thanks for this first-hand report, Bob. You may recall I wrote this up sme months back based on a feature the Philippine Star did on the Davao City 911 service.

    Of all the plus factors of the Philippines a huge negative factor certainly is that except for Davao and the precious few exceptions you mentioned there essentially is no emergency service. Even the extremely simlistic safety idea of having a 911 number to take calls (easily doable with existing cell and landline phone systems) is virtually non-existent.

    It’s a bit sad … a fully staffed/fully equipped center is quite an undertaking but a simple PSAP (Public Service Answering Point) that would direct calls to the closest available service is relatively easy to implement … but a basic change in attitude is needed.

    It’s certainly a big plus factor for Davao City and the few other locatuions who have decided to adopt the ‘we can’ attitude instead of the ever-present ‘If Only’ that most suchschemes are met with.

  8. Hi Dave Starr: Yep, I agree. Something like a 911 service should be a bare necessity for even a medium sized town. And, like you said, it is not something that is too hard to do either. I will say that to get to the point where they are today, the Davao 911 Center has put in major money and major effort, because it’s become much more than a place where phone calls are answered now. But, everybody should make a start, at a bare minimum.

  9. Hello Bob, I have a question. One of your videos showed wall-to-wall traffic on the streets of Davao. How do the Emergency Services cope with this, and how does the traffic cope with the Emergency Services? i.e. do they move over and let Emergency Services vehicles through, or can they even move over? Have you queried the Emergency Services people on this? I’m thinking it would be a big problem for them all.

  10. Hi John in Austria: It has gotten pretty good in the past few years that traffic moves over and make way for emergency vehicles. Years ago this didn’t happen, but now it is the norm. I did talk to Mario Monsanto a little about this during our visit to the 911 center, and he said that generally it is not a big problem, because people who block the emergency vehicles are dealt with harshly. Also, he told me that anybody who follows the 911 vehicles in order to take advantage of their quick move through traffic is also dealt with by the authorities. So, overall, I think that the traffic does not present a big problem.

  11. if only Mayor Duterte could put in that amount of effort to tackle the extra-judicial killings in the area.

  12. I was so impressed with the facility I was expecting a small complex and lots of paper and confusion. How wrong I was!!

  13. Hi Bob, Can we have a request pls?? do you think you can post the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa when you can?. only when you are free. We would love to watch it if posted here on your blog. Will be great. I love Mayor Duterte and Would be nice if we see the program here in your site.

    Thanks..its just a suggestion 😐

    Thanks..God Bless to you and your family

  14. Hi R. Shaw – Based on your comment, I would say that you don’t really understand what those killings are all about. I am not criticizing you, just stating what I see as a fact. This is not something I will elaborate on publicly, but if you feel you need to learn more, I will share my comments with you privately, provided that you will assure me that what I say will remain private.

  16. Hi Berlin – That is something that I would be happy to do, but I do not own the copyright on the show, so it would be illegal for me to do that. I only post videos of things that I shoot myself, I don’t record copyright material and post it on the net. Sorry to disappoint. I hope you understand.

  17. ya know bob the things we take for granted in the more developed areas of the world really makes you step back and appriciate the efforts of a good city leader. Davao is a beautiful city and to balance commerce and eco is quite a ontaking. thanks for all you do to promote the “real” Davao.

  18. Hi Tommy: yes, I agree Davao is really a beautiful place, and it deserves a little attention, so I’m happy to write about it. Thank you for reading what I have to say.

  20. Hi Klaus – since living in Davao, Feyma and I had occasion to call 911 three or four times. In each instance they have arrived quickly, and their actions have been very professional. I’m glad to hear that you experienced the same.

  23. USA attaced Afganistan after 9/11- yet not one Afgani was on those airplanes. As for sep.11, there is still no proof that alcaida organised it, Original lists of the airport passengers only show few arabs and only one of them had any flying lessons. Who knows, maybe Bush and his mafia did it by remote control piloting.

  24. Hi Markus – Well, we’re all entitled to have opinions no matter how wild they are, and in my opinion yours is pretty wild. The fact is that Al Qaeda has already admitted that they were responsible, that’s already pretty strong evidence right there. While there may have been no Afghanis on the planes, that is where Al Qaeda’s leadership was at the time. I think that pretty much every nation in the world agrees that attacking Afghanistan was a legitimate thing to do.

    Oh, and by the way… this post is about 911 Emergency Communications, and has nothing at all to do with the Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

  25. MABUHAY DAVAO….FINALLY DAVAO HAS 911..!!! PRIDE AND JOY OF DAVAOIANS…MY BROTHER IS WORKING THERE TOO,HENRY DIMPAS IS ONE OF DAVAO 911 FIREFIGTHER..PROUD OF HIM..KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.!!!! FROM.
    JENNIFER DIMPAS
    108C GOL.
    NORWAY

  26. Kamusta ka Bob,

    I was glad about hearing there are some 911 services starting to appear in the Philippines.
    Rose has told me that they have ambulance service there in Maasin City, Southern Leyte, and have for a few years now. She has told me that it is a very good service there for people who need them. I am sure it is not as big as what you have there in Davao, but it seems to fit the needs of the Maasihons.

    Salamat kaayo,
    Danny

  27. Honest question Bob. If by chance you “God Forbid” had another stroke or heart attack, would you have someone call 911 and wait for their ambulance or would you prefer to get driven to the hospital immediately by someone else. Lets say for arguments sake you live 15 – 20 minutes from a hospital.

    Living in the states I have the highest confidence in emergency services especially with their on-site ambulatory care which has many sophisticated life-saving medical devices but the Philippines I am not so sure. Their ambulances look like something from the 50’s

  28. Bob, I spoke to my gf there in Davao City and she seems to think that the 911 Center caters to the well-to-do and foreigners; not impressed with them at all.

    One of her neighbors had a heart attack and was told by the 911 operator that they would call back. They had to contact the barangay police for help instead.

    Her own experience in an emergency, they were told that someone would call back. After waiting 30 minutes, they called a cab.

    Sorry to be the first to be negative. It just goes to show that experiences are never the same 100% of the time.

  30. Well done Davao city Mayor, very impressive emergency services.
    I spent a few weeks in Davao and the city is truly unique and is an enigma in the Pines. The Mayor there is easily the best the Pines has to offer and should be a consultant to the Federal Pines when he retires as Mayor.
    Davao is very modern and has a nice feel to the place, should be a first port of call for any foreigner. The emergency services in Davao shows what the Pines can do with some vision and planning. Good article Sir BoB. Good to know Iligan City will try to impliment a similar plan. Just got to get the people here to load up their phones to be able to call 911 lol

  31. Can anyone count on the Davao 911 if they’re about to be killed or threatened by Davao Death Squad?

  32. Hi Bob. Your story on the Davao 911 Centre prompted me to bring up a related issue that I can’t find discussed anywhere …how do expats pay for ‘major’ medical-costs in the Philippines? I’m in my mid 50s and moving to the Philippines in a year or two (currently healthy). I assume routine medical-care is paid in cash – but what about major medical emergencies (heart-bypass surgery, cancer, etc). Is an expat-spouse of a Filipino qualified for ‘Phil Health’ coverage? OR does one just take out a loan on their Philippine house & land to pay for large unexpected medical costs? Thanks for any information.

  33. I’m kind of surprised that Mayor Tom in Cebu isn’t so jealous of that that he must do it too. 🙂

    Jessie called the hospital today, just to see if anyone answered. They did not. Perhaps on Monday we can get an emergency number.

  34. I watched the video and was impressed. I am just as impressed with the volunteer fire brigages. When are you going to put something up about these volunteers? I watch several of their videos on youtube (ie/ Davao City 911 FAS, DVFB, FCFB & Federation Fire). As a person living in Davao, your perspective on these organizations would make for interesting reading.