Naga LGU buys five satellite phones

NAGA CITY --- The Naga City government has bought 5 units of satellite phones (satphones) for use in extreme emergency situations such as during calamities or other events when cellular signals are unavailable.

Mayor Nelson Legacion said that the acquisition of the satphones is very important in times when regular telephone lines and cellular signals are not working or blocked.

“Because of these satellite phones, I see the opportunity that the problem in communication when lines are busted will finally be resolved,” he said.

Satphone is described as “a phone that uses satellites for communication (receiving and sending signals) instead of terrestrial lines. Ideally, these sat-phones enable communication anywhere around the world irrespective of location.”

Legacion cited as an example the difficulties being encountered by the city government’s Incident Command Post (ICP) when communication lines are not working, like during the conduct of Peñafrancia fiesta when cellphone communication is shut down for security purposes.

ICP is the location where the Incident Commander operates during response operations.

The five satellite phones have been assigned to Mayor Legacion, Vice Mayor Nene De Asis, Public Safety Officer Renne Gumba, the head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, and the Communication Center officer.