THE PNP, in partnership with Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company, on Wednesday launched PNP Helpline “16677” to improve police response to emergencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PNP is playing the lead role in the implementation of quarantine rules throughout the country, including in Metro Manila which registered 9,481 COVID-19 cases out of the 14,699 cases nationwide as of Tuesday.
PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said the public may use the hotline to report concerns about travel pass and community quarantine protocols, among others.
He said the PNP has other hotlines but they are cellphone numbers and they are hard to remember, apparently referring to the hotlines of Joint Task Force COVID Shield.
“Mahirap matandaan ng tao, kailangan pang isulat. Ito maikli lang, madaling matandaan. (People cant remember it, they need to jot it down. This one is short, its easy to remember,” he said of Helpline 16677.
On the possibility people will report to the helpline issues that are not related to COVID-19, Banac said, the reports will be referred to police stations if these are crime incidents.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said the helpline will provide a 24/7 hotline service, which is connected to a trained team that will respond to issues and concerns related to the pandemic.
“We want a quick response system that will immediately address and respond to the public’s concerns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gamboa said.
The helpline will be supervised by the PNP Command Center, under the PNP Directorate for Operations. The PNP Command Center is also involved in the daily monitoring of all police operations.
“The intention of the platform is to provide a communication medium for the public to raise their issues and concerns relative to the implementation of rules and ordinances (under community quarantine),” Gamboa said.
Gamboa said the PNP Command Center was able to complete in just one month all technical and administrative requirements for the helpline – from coordination with PLDT, system configuration, setup and testing of the 16677 platform.
During the ceremony, PLDT also donated to the PNP 52 units of mobile phones with load, 30 units of pocket Wi-Fi, 100 prepared cards worth P300 each, and Enterprise SMS Messaging Suite.
