The Philippine National Police (PNP) has launched “Text Bato,” a hotline service powered by the communications systems of Globe Telecom and the PLDT Group. 
Text Bato is the 24/7 hotline project of the PNP’s Community Relations Group that allows ordinary citizens to report crime incidents and law enforcement concerns directly to the police chief director Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
According to PNP, the “Bato” hotline is centralized and connected to the provincial and regional police officers. Once these reports reach the hotline, the Text Bato platform will shoot a confirmation to the sender with ‘PNPBATO’ as the unique sender name. The PNP will then verify these reports to determine the appropriate course of action. The PNP will then be able to refer the report or complaint to the concerned police station so once the PNP receives a report, it would be transferred to the concerned police station.
The PNP said Dela Rosa himself is able to monitor the reports and whether they are acted upon by the police personnel concerned.
Smart subscribers can text relevant police concerns by typing BATO (space) their message then sending to 7444-2286. A Php1 fee applies for every SMS.
Smart also assigned a dedicated wireless device for Dela Rosa himself to personally access all incoming messages and even have the option to directly reply to every message sender.
In designing the platform, the PNP took into consideration citizens with access to “ordinary” mobile phones with mere call and text functionalities.
To support this, PLDT and Smart Spokesman and Public Affairs Head Ramon Isberto said that the telco will be committed to help the PNP in making its services widely accessible to the general public.
“Aside from enabling this service, we also pledge to support the PNP in protecting the privacy of participating subscribers and in ensuring the confidentiality of each message transmitted to the text hotline,” relays Isberto.
PLDT is also backing up the hotline system by providing internet connectivity at the Text Bato Operations Center. This will provide round-the-clock support for Dela Rosa in verifying the text reports and mobilizing speedy response.
To complement the 911 emergency hotline, Text Bato will focus on getting citizen-generated reports about law enforcement and police concerns such as leads on criminal activities, erring cops and traffic management issues, just to name a few.
