FREE 911 Service Philippines; Globe telecom would Charge ₱12.50 per minute

911 emergency hotline available to public starting August 1

In times of emergencies, most people are unaware of what number to call for help.  But come August 1, 911 will officially be the national emergency hotline.

This is one of President Rodrigo Duterte's measures to fight crime and corruption in three to six months.

Officials said the implementation of the new hotline was derived from Davao City's Central 911. The city's emergency hotline provides medical, fire, rescue, police assistance as well as K-9 units.

"By August within a month, the Cebu 911 center will be made operational. I think there are other LGUs (local government units) that will be putting up their own command center[s]," National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios said.

According to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the 911 nationwide hotline will connect the caller to emergency, rescue, police, or fire services.

All calls to 911 will also be rerouted to the existing Patrol 117 program.

Talks are underway as to what else will be added.

"Later on kasama na dito yung mga CCTV na magmomonitor ng mga public places," DILG Undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. said. [CCTVs which can monitor public places will be included later on.]

Hinlo added, one does not have to dial an area code and 911 will be implemented for the entire country. But changes will be implemented gradually.

"May transition phase po. Pag nagdial po kayo ng 117… papasok pa din po sa emergency [hotline]." [There's a transition phase. If you dial 117, the call will still enter the emergency hotline.]

Senator Richard Gordon, who is also the Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said it takes about eight minutes to arrive on the scene, depending on how far they are.

According to Gordon, the organization receives two to four calls per day from 117.

Davao City medical responders said they should be deployed to the site of the emergency in less than 59 seconds.

Authorities admit, with the new hotline comes some challenges like traffic and prank callers. Gordon said legislators would review if there's a need to pass a bill to impose penalties on prank callers.

Officials, meantime, are appealing to the public not to make prank calls as this would deprive others who are really in need of immediate attention.

Telecommunications and digital services provider PLDT, together with subsidiaries Smart and ePLDT, said they shall fully cooperate with the government for a nationwide emergency hotline, 911.

While Globe Telecom said they would charge  regular rate of ₱7.50 per minute plus ₱5 per call to the hotline.

Telecommunications companies, however, are asking for patience as they put "more improvements" within the year.

They also requested the President to issue a new Executive Order transferring the authority of the current Patrol "117" Commission to a new legal entity to handle the "911" system. – CNN Philippines

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President Duterte got 91% HIGHEST TRUST RATING in Country Leader's history - 8% Undecided

RECORD-HIGH TRUST RATING. President Rodrigo Duterte is trusted by nearly all Filipinos as he begins his term. Photo by King Rodriguez/PPD

Duterte enjoys record-high 91% trust rating – Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines: Nearly all Filipinos trust President Rodrigo Duterte as he embarked on his term, according to the results of a Pulse Asia Research, Incorporated survey released on Wednesday, July 20.

The results of the nationwide survey conducted among 1,200 Filipinos from July 2 to 8, showed that 91% of Filipinos trust Duterte, while less than half a percent distrust him, and 8% are undecided on whether or not to trust him.

“President Rodrigo R. Duterte begins his stint as the country’s 16th president with an overwhelming majority of his constituents expressing trust in him (91%) and practically no one distrusting him (0.2%). The rest of Filipinos (8%) cannot say if they trust or distrust President Duterte,” Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes said.

Former president Benigno Aquino III used to hold the record of the highest level of public trust in the Pulse Asia trust survey first conducted in 1999. In a survey held during a similar period in Aquino's term – July 1 to 11, 2010 – Aquino had a trust rating of 85%.

Data from Pulse Asia Research, Inc

Among geographical locations, Duterte earned the highest trust rating in his bailiwick, Mindanao (97%). Among socioeconomic classes, trust for Duterte is highest among Class D and the poorest Class D, both at 92%.

In a statement, Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte’s 91%-trust rating during his first week in office “is a humbling reminder that the genuine and meaningful change that our people aspire for is now being felt.”

“This expression of confidence, therefore, shall serve as an inspiration to the Duterte administration to continuously make a real difference and make our people’s lives better, safer, and healthier,” Andanar said.

A Pulse Asia survey conducted in early July also shows that a 'sizeable majority' of Filipinos trust Vice President Leni Robredo

SIZEABLE MAJORITY TRUST. Vice President Leni Robredo enjoys a 62% trust rating in the July 2016 Pulse Asia survey. RAPPLER.com

The survey results also showed that 62% of Filipinos – a “sizeable majority,” according to Holmes – trust the Vice President, while 11% distrust her, and 27% are undecided on whether or not to trust her.

“Most Filipinos – regardless of geographic location and socioeconomic status – say they trust Vice-President Robredo (58% to 72% and 53% to 64%, respectively),” Holmes said.

Among geographical areas, Robredo got her highest trust rating from the Visayas (72%), and among socioeconomic classes, from Class D (64%). Indecision on whether to trust the Vice President is highest in Mindanao (32%) and among the well-off class ABC (35%).

Robredo thanked her countrymen for the overwhelming "vote of confidence."

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our fellow Filipinos. From 1% in the pre-election surveys to 35.1% – and now, a trust rating of 62%," she said in a statement.

The survey showed that the primary sentiment toward the Chief Justice is one of indecision, as 42% of Filipinos are undecided on whether or not to trust her. But there are more Filipinos who trust Sereno than distrust her (35% vs 19%).

“Big plurality indecision figures are posted by the Supreme Court Chief Justice in the Visayas (43%) and Class E (46%). On the other hand, the latter receives practically the same trust and indecision ratings in Metro Manila (40% versus 37%), the rest of Luzon (36% versus 46%), Mindanao (38% versus 36%), Class ABC (37% versus 50%), and Class D (38% versus 39%),” Holmes said.

During and immediately before the survey period, among the major news were the oath-taking of Duterte and Robredo, Cabinet appointments including Robredo as housing chief, cases filed against Aquino in connection with the Disbursement Acceleration Program and the Mamasapano clash, and the spate of drug-related killings in the country and calls to probe these.

Around this time, Duterte also expressed his willingness to have bilateral talks and joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Holmes said.

The nationwide survey has a ± 3% error margin at the 95% confidence level; subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 6% error margin, also at 95% confidence level.

The July survey also polled the respondents on their expectations of the new administration. (READ: Inflation, jobs edge out crime as Filipinos' top worries – poll) – Rappler.com

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Philippines flips the pig nickel finger at China

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that he will cancel mining projects that are causing environmental harm. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

We are now seeing the first repercussions of the fact that the disputes between China and the Philippines extend beyond the South China Sea — the nickel price is on the rise following nickel mine shutdowns ordered by the Philippine government.

Last night, nickel edged up to a one-year peak of $US4.81 a pound. While last night’s price is a far cry from the heady days when nickel was above $US10 a pound, it still represents a rise of almost 15 per cent from the $US4.20-a-pound level where nickel traded just a month ago.

While the outlook for all the base metals is improving, the shut down of key nickel mines in the Philippines has given a real boost to the nickel market at the expense of China.

The fact that the Philippine government’s shut down orders came a few days before the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of the Philippines over China in their South China Sea dispute is not lost on the nickel market, although, naturally, everyone may deny a connection.

Nevertheless, this is the first of many trade issues that will arise in the South China Sea, which, we should not forget, is the main route used by Japan to gain supplies.

To understand the importance of the Philippine government’s crackdown on nickel ore production we need to go back into the history of the development of pig nickel, which I outlined earlier this year when explaining the source of the woes hitting Clive Palmer’s Townsville nickel refinery (Townsville’s problem is pig nickel not Clive Palmer, April 20).

Nickel was once a boom metal but the Chinese stopped the nickel boom via a product called pig nickel. Pig nickel contains cobalt, zinc, copper etc. but it is good enough to make the stainless steel used in a lot of buildings and handrails plus low-grade kitchen and bathroom equipment.

However, pig nickel is not an acceptable substitute for the stainless steel used in chemical plants, oil refineries and nuclear power plants.

China initially produced pig nickel from nickel ore imported from Indonesia. So, although the production process was cheap and dirty, when the nickel price increased, the Chinese cranked up their pig nickel blast furnaces.

But in 2014, Indonesia stopped exporting nickel lateritic ore, demanding instead that its nickel be turned into metal in Indonesia. The price of nickel boomed as pig nickel plants in China were forced to slash production due to insufficient ore supply.

But then China began sourcing its nickel ore from the Philippines and the nickel price slumped once more as pig nickel hit the market again.

In May, voters in the Philippines elected Rodrigo Duterte President. Duterte went on to appoint Regina Lopez, a staunch environmentalist, as mining minister.

Earlier this month, she ordered the suspension of operations at two nickel ore mines for environmental violations and halted the issuance of exploration permits while she undertook a review of all existing mines as part of a nationwide crackdown on bad mining practices.

The two nickel mines that were suspended were operated by BenguetCorp Nickel Mines Inc and Zambales Diversified Metals Corp,.

Of around 40 metals mines operating in the Philippines, Minister Lopez told Reuters she didn’t “even know of one” that practised responsible mining, strictly adhered to environmental standards or took full care of the local communities where they operated.

And, to back her up, President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he would cancel mining projects that were causing environmental harm.

Take that China.

The Philippines is the biggest nickel ore supplier to China and have the fifth-largest nickel reserves in the world.

Given that the Philippines mining crackdown and the South China Sea ruling all happened within one week in July, it’s still too early to determine how trade will be affected.

Leaving aside the timing of the Philippines crackdown on nickel production, the global nickel industry needs a nickel price approaching $US10 a pound in order to make worthwhile returns.

And given the bad mining practices in the Philippines, it will take a much higher nickel price to justify the extra outlays required to alter approaches to mining. China is in the front line of the countries to be affected. – The Australian

 ROBERT GOTTLIEBSEN - Business Spectator columnist Melbourne @BGottliebsen

 

 

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