Tangina mo 911. Tangina mo Pilipinas.

When dealing with emergency responses, the mind goes into fight-or-flight mode. The adrenaline pushes the individual to go through lengths they themselves did not know they were capable of. In Askri’s case, instead of finding the assistance he expected from the first responders, he was met with a sense of desperate disbelief. Not because he was in danger, but because his father was hanging by a thread. That tells a lot about a system that’s built to primarily manage crises.

CPR just got a whole lot more complicated—and no, it isn’t about the technique. Because when the three-digit number fails to do its purpose, it does not leave an empty call; it dims the chance of survival. And that exactly was what Basty Askri’s father got at the short end of the stick. Death does not excuse anyone. Whatever, whoever, whenever, however, whyever; it never yields to requests of second chances, let alone waiting.

It is mockery to hear the mutters of gossip and laughter through the phone when you’re consistently maxing out 30 chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths. Without break, without pause, as the chance of life could slip right through your fingertips.

10 minutes of the waiting game. 600 seconds of anticipation.

Yet by the time the medics came to the scene, no hands replaced Askri’s in resuscitating his 71-year-old father. No automated external defibrillator (AED) and inadequately provisioned; a sitting casket with an alarm waiting for its body. In an attempt to clarify, Secretary Jonvic Remulla shared that the 911 received the call at around 12:15 PM and redirected it to the Taguig Command Center by 12:17 PM. However, no confirmation of a dispatched rescue vehicle was flagged at 4:57 PM and 5:56 PM.

The inconsistencies are keeping a chokehold on the affected. And for a senior in his seventies, a cardiac attack. This isn’t just a simple case of accident or a mere wake-up call; it is a blaring alarm for the responders treating exigencies with leniency. The emergency assistance that was expected was countered with laxity, coaxed in slackness. Now I am not singling out the happening from the great feats our response teams have done in cascades of disasters, especially with the heavy downpours due to the Habagat season. I am calling out the gaps before it could crack further.

The P448.125 billion budget allotted for the health sector under the Universal Health Care (UHC) and the P1 billion budget for the Zero Balance Billing (ZBB) program in the signed 2026 national budget is supposed to fund the country in disease surveillance, health financing, and, of course, rapid response mechanisms.

“O diba? Nakakaputangina.”

Even with the attractive figures on paper, its promised service somewhat did not travel along our roads. What I do not understand is why the paramedics did not take over the resuscitation. The certification that guaranteed them as the primary providers of emergency medical care should have been enough for their mother wit to take over. If this can be experienced by the working class, then the possibility of the economically marginalized communities encountering it is definitely not zero.

This is one of the concerns Dr. Jose Brittanio “Brix” Pujalte Jr. needs to address. With his recent appointment as the new chief of the Department of Health (DOH), the sector that has constantly been in a bloodbath and bludgeoning could function in the service of Filipinos even if bloodied but unbowed. With heavy expectations on his shoulders, I am also counting on the kind of management he will implement because I do not want to live with the wariness of having to revive my loved ones but be met with an empty-handed ambulance.

I do not want to live with the anticipation that my call for help could be trivialized by the very dispatcher.

We all blame the system for wronging us but tend to forget the system is also us. Act right. Complaints about the network should be met with equal action. It should not stay as objections but rather as points to be fixed. Have the care to be right and to do right, because every crisis seems to be far away until it is knocking on your doorstep.

Despite the recent turnoff with our emergency response system, understand that it is our line of support in times of casualties. Dial 911 to access the country’s unified hotline; the responder will provide aid depending on one’s emergency. Know the helplines of your barangay for near and quick assistance. And learn how to give chest compressions. Push firmly and deeply, compressing the chest at least five centimeters but no more than six centimeters. Keep a fast pace of 100 to 120 beats per minute or time the rhythm to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, or I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

An ambulance must never arrive as an open casket; CPR must never be a half-assed labor. Only then will our emergency units be adequate so that no Filipino would say, “Tangina mo 911. Tangina mo Pilipinas.”

The Frontman