Cebu City’s C3 adopts use of Guardian emergency app

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella signed a memorandum of agreement with homegrown SugboTek, Inc. for the use of mobile app Guardian Emergency Response at the city’s Command Control Center (C3). With Labella are the firm’s CEO Cloyd Dedicatoria (left) and chief information officer Franklin Caruana (right). | Contributed Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Command Control Center (C3) of the Cebu City government will now be using a mobile-based application that will allow its constituents and even transients direct access to emergency assistance in case of need.

Mayor Edgardo Labella signed on October 30, 2019 a memorandum of agreement with homegrown SugboTek, Inc. to adopt, install and roll out the Guardian Emergency Response System at the C3 located in Barangay Mambaling.

During their October 15 session, members of the Cebu City Council approved the draft MOA and authorized Labella to enter into agreement with SugboTek CEO and Guardian creator Cloyd Dedicatoria.

After the installation of the needed hardware and training of required personnel, the public will already be able to access C3 with the use of the Guardian app for free 24/7 to report fire incidences, medical emergency, crime and other exigencies.

The Guardian app has been available for public use in the last two years. Its developer started operations in the four pilot barangays of Apas and Sto. Niño in the north district and Poblacion Pardo and Tisa in the city’s south district.

More Cebu City barangays are expected to also adopt the use of the Guardian app in the coming days.

The Guardian’s concept is to devolve reception of emergencies calls to the barangay level whose operators know better the geographic details of their respective areas and can easily manage and coordinate with responders, Dedicatoria said.

Single tap

Downloadable for free through the internet, the Guardian app allows the public to use their mobile phones to either seek assistance or report incidents “by just a single tap on the phone,” he said.

The app alerts C3 or the nearest barangay with Guardian facility whose operator will call the one who alerted them for more details, while using a parallel software to dispatch emergency assets and deploy the needed personnel. Guardian can immediately alert volunteer responders, like physicians, nurses and peacekeepers, he said.

When ready, Cebu City residents and regular transients will be encouraged to download the app “Guardian Emergency Response” from Google Play and sign up for access in case of emergency through private Wi-Fi or mobile data internet.

The Guardian app may still be accessed even when on an offline mode. In this particular case, C3 could identify the location of the mobile phone user and the assistance needed by reviewing the situation with the use of the latter’s mobile camera,  Dedicatoria said.

The Guardian app is now being used at the Bantay Mandaue 161 command center. / dcb