Ishka Villacisneros: 911 saved her lola’s life so she brought Next Gen 911 to Phl

Have you ever been in an emergency situation and had no one to instinctively call like they do in US TV shows (like 9-11 starring Angela Basset), where someone immediately shows up? Hopefully, you never have to.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

But emergencies do happen, and not just in the movies or HBO hits.

In 2019, long before the Philippines saw the urgency to modernize emergency services, one Filipina was already fighting to make it happen for her home country.

Meet Ishka Villacisneros, a visionary, tech trailblazer, and a force behind the launch of Next Generation 911 (NG911) in the Philippines reportedly the first Asean country to fully adopt this US-grade emergency response system. Today, as the chief financial officer of NGA 911 in the US, and president of NGA 911 in the Philippines, she's a catalyst in not only transforming emergency response in the Philippines she's putting the Philippines on the map as the regional model for lifesaving innovation.

A personal mission, a national movement

"I wanted to bring this to the Philippines because it saved my lola," Ishka shares. "911 is something Americans take for granted. But in the Philippines, when an emergency strikes, people don't even know who to call or worse, no one answers."

At the time, the country had over 30 local emergency numbers, 200 fire hotlines, 700 police numbers, and 40,000 barangay lines.

But Ishka saw a future where every Filipino, no matter where they live, could dial a single number "911" and expect help in minutes.. Exactly how it is in the US.

"We all have a lola. We all have someone we'd do anything to protect. I couldn't accept that reliable emergency response was a luxury only some countries could afford. I wanted to change that narrative. I wanted Filipinos to know that help is just one call away and that someone will answer," she shares.