5-Minute Quick Response Time Rescue 161 in Marikina City

An emergency is a race against time. All local governments have ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars equipped with sirens and blinkers to get anywhere fast in their area of jurisdiction for emergency calls. Marikina is no different, except for the signs posted on all of its emergency vehicles prescribing the self-imposed 5-minute response time along with the instruction: If this unit fails to reach you within 5 minutes upon call for assistance, report to Mayor MCF, call tel. 646-1634. When this program was launched in 1997 by then Mayor Bayani Fernando, he said: Sa ating karanasan, kung atrasado ang dating, mamatay man ang pulis, bumbero, o paramedics sa paglilingkod ay walang ibig sabihin sa tao. Sa kabilang banda, kung dumating sa oras kahit hindi marunong bumaril ang pulis o pumatay ng sunog ang bumbero o gumamot ang paramedics ay nasisiyahan pa rin ang tao. (In our experience, if the police or fireman o paramedic arrived late in the emergency situation, even if anyone of them dies in the line of duty, this will not mean anything to the people. While if these people came to the rescue on time, even if the police could not fire his gun, or the fireman couldn’t stop at all the fire, or the paramedic couldn’t cure his patient, people will still be satisfied.)