We need sea ambulances

Considering the number of island barangays in our country, I have no doubt in my mind that we should already introduce a system of sea ambulances all over the country, wherever these are needed. I am saying that it should be a "system", because these sea ambulances would be practically useless, not unless it will be supported by an emergency dispatching system, and an "army" of emergency medical technicians (EMTs). I will never subscribe to the argument that some LGUs do not have ambulances because they have no money to buy these. I think that is a rotten reasoning, and it is just proof to show that the LGU officials who say that do not have their priorities in order.

I understand that the LGUs may have other priorities, but who can say that saving lives is not a priority? When I was a director at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), I was happy to be part of the board of directors that approved the request of LGUs for ambulance units. I was however surprised to find out that many LGUs are waiting in line to get their ambulance units donated to them, instead of buying these themselves.

I eventually realized that the problem is not money. The problem is how they prioritize their expenses, because in reality, they could even acquire ambulance units on a lease-to-own basis. The other thing that I noticed at that time was that many LGUs that received the ambulance units from PCSO did not have the necessary EMTs who were needed to provide the necessary emergency services. It is sad that some LGU officials even used their units for personal purposes, such as using these as transport purposes that have nothing to do with medical emergencies.

Ideally, all LGUs should have 911 call centers that could immediately dispatch not only the ambulance units but also police cars, fire trucks and also rescue vehicles. I have built a similar call center before, and I would be willing to help any LGU that would need any assistance for that purpose. I could also help with EMT training and certification.

 

Fiber optic cables along the railways

When I was in Japan many years ago as a guest of the Japanese government to observe their advanced information and communications technologies (ICT), I learned that over there, all railroad operators including Japan Railways (JR) were required to lay down fiber optic cables along all of their railroads. What that means is that all over Japan, there are always fiber optic networks where there are railroad networks. When I was in the United States as a press attaché in the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and as a consular assistant at the Philippine Consulate General in New York, I also observed that all railroad operators over there were also required to lay down fiber optic cables along all of their railroads. Aside from that, new telecom players were allowed to install their own fiber optic cables anywhere, anytime. Aside from the fact that there are no right of way (ROW) problems if the fiber optic cables are laid down along the railways, it is also cheaper to do that, instead of digging new underground systems where there are no railways. Because of the cheaper costs, it would be safe to assume that the costs of the internet and mobile services would become cheaper also. In theory, the internet and mobile signals could also become faster.

At the risk of stating the obvious, ROW issues are really big problems in infrastructure development. Not unless the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be required to submit a list of ROW problems that are affecting road building projects, we will never know the numbers. If we include the ROW problems of the PPP projects, the list could go longer.

In the days when the transportation and the communications functions were still rolled into one in the defunct Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), it would have been easier to coordinate the building of railroads with the laying down of fiber cables. But for now, it is not too late for the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to talk to each other.

 

Radio frequency identification

I could not understand why the radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are failing in our Metro Manila tollway systems. The RFID system is not rocket-science, and it is already a very stable technology. At the risk of oversimplifying it, all it really takes to operate an RFID system are four elements namely tags or chips, antennas, readers and backend software. In theory, the RFID system is more expensive and more sophisticated than quick response (QR) codes, but their functions are very much similar.

As I see it, the probable reason why an RFID system could fail is if one of the elements could fail. For example, the tags or chips could get eroded, the antennas could be broken, the readers could malfunction, and the backend software could be affected by viruses or malware. But considering that the RFID systems that were deployed were supposedly high end, it is unlikely that these would easily fail.

Pardon me for saying so, but sometimes I think that the reason why our local information and communications technology (ICT) systems are failing, is because many of our good ICT practitioners have gone abroad, because of the brain drain. I am saying that, because even the most advanced ICT systems are only as good as the ICT people who are managing them.

In other words, the systems could fail, because the people running them could fail. Aside from RFID chips and QR codes, near field communications (NFC) is another technology that our tollway operators could use for entry and payment purposes. Although NFC could do most of the functions that RFID and QR could do, it is somehow limited in the sense that device-to-device transactions could only work within a range of 4 centimeters or 1. 6 meters. Generally speaking, QR and NFC are used in point of sale (POS) transactions. Since slow traffic is already a big problem in Metro Manila, our tollway operators should do their part in making sure that their payment systems in their toll gates will not cause any more slowdowns in their own areas. Good providers of RFID, QR and NFC systems are a dime a dozen now, and they are everywhere now. But if the tollway operators still need help in locating them, I could help by introducing them.