Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Every day, the world experiences harsher weather conditions, harsher crimes,

and harsher people, and this calls for a level of preparedness that people may not have

(The Associated Press- NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 2013). Accessibility is

the key to preparedness (IRRINNews, 2009), creating an opportunity for people to seek

for help and call for assistance in times of distress, may that be during a natural disaster

or a crime, and the people in charge of the masses need to be able to provide this kind

of openness, both for the safety and security of the public. However, this is not a reality

for a lot of areas, where people may have no means to access information, or are not

adequately trained to handle situations.

In the United States of America, the disaster management practices of the

people are not as well as their government would hope, with reports of the Center for

Disease Control and Prevention (2012) stating that two major cities showed 20% and

25% statistic of not being prepared at all for sudden disease outbreaks in their area.

Groves’ (2013) study also showed that of their sample population of students of the

University of South Florida, the majority showed only perceived knowledge of disaster
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preparedness, but no practical knowledge in the event of an actual emergency situation.

This highlights the need for further researches on how to properly disseminate

information about disaster management that should have been readily available to the

people in the first place.

In this aspect, the Philippines is still a developing country, and the dissemination

of information is not as efficient as those of developed countries such as the United

Kingdom (popular government owned news stations) and the United States of America

(regularly scheduled seminars and commercials on television) that enable them to inform

their citizens of emergency hotlines and other crisis management operations

(Christensen, 1985; Business Case Studies, 2011). The government and its different

branches must be able to provide different channels of communication to its people to

ensure the safety of the masses during times of calamity, a regular occurrence in the

Philippines due to its position geographically.

Communication channels, though there are more of them available, still retain

different levels of information capacity and reliability. That is the reason why a

government must utilize the channels that will allow them maximum retention for limited

attention. Studies (Burzyńska, Binkowska-Bury, & Januszewicz, 2015; Interian, et al.,

2009; Narasimhamurthy, 2014; Newport & Saad, 1998; Wainright, 2006) show that

although television remains as the leading media source of information for people, the

information there is mostly made for entertainment and provide only limited information

regarding government projects and plans. Radio, on the other hand, is denser with

information, however, government operated and supported channels are seen to be less

trusted by the people and receive worse listenership than other radio bands (Lent, 2009;

Norris & Colman, 1996; Sabigan, 2011; Unstated, 2018). Print and internet based

information sources are the most informational among the available communication
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channels, but the the readers of print are less today while the information available

online are not of the same quality as its physical counter part (Blintiff, 2005; Castel,

Murayaman, Friedman, McGilliviray, & Link, 2013; Dilevko & Gottlieb, 2002; FAMILUSI &

OWOEYE, 2014; Horrigan, 2006; Liu, 2006; Lunden, 2009; Meltsner, 1995; StatCounter

Global Stats, 2011). Also taken into consideration is word of mouth or hear say, where

more people participate since communication can happen online or through everyday

interactions, but the information may not be reliable because it has already been altered

by the cognitive processes of other people (Bowie, 2018; Brown, Broderick, & Lee, 2007;

Buttle, 1998; Cheung & Lee, 2014; Eisingerich, Chun, Liu, Jia, & Bell, 2015; Ellison &

Fudenberg, 1995).

The country is positioned inside the Pacific Ring of Fire, a host of oceanic

volcanoes where 80% of earthquakes occur due to the shifting of tectonic plates (Crisis

and Disaster Preparedness Organization, 2018). There are also 22 active volcanoes in

the country, out of the 220 that are known to the locals, and coupled with the rising

severity of the El Niño Oscillation during the past decade, the Philippines is the third

most vulnerable country to natural disasters in the whole world (World Risk Report,

2016). Poverty is also a threat to the safety of the people, for it leads to armed conflict

and increase of needs among the people, displacing and destroying the communities

that they are used to, inhibiting them from creating their own sustainable communities

that are resilient (Crisis and Disaster Preparedness Organization, 2018). The

underdevelopment of the Philippine infrastructures also poses a threat to the people,

leaving them vulnerable to the adverse effects of the natural disasters that hit the

country continuously, with 18 to 25 typhoons per year (Asian Development Bank, 2014).

In Quezon City alone, the most populous city in the Philippines, multiple fault

lines converge under buildings and infrastructures that host hundreds of families. The
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West Valley Fault Line in particular is an imminent threat to the seven districts that

compose this city (Crisis and Disaster Preparedness Organization, 2018), for it runs

directly beneath condominiums, malls, housing development projects, subdivisions, and

hospitals in the area. According to an article in the ABS-CBN News website regarding

the areas in the said city, four of the five barangays that will be most affected in the

event of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake come from the same district, District 2 (ABS-CBN

News, 2015). And although 2018 statements from the Philippine National Police relay

that the crime and safety threats in the city have decreased by more than 40% since the

start of the Duterte administration (Villamente, 2018), it was also reported before that

Quezon City is the home of the highest crime rates in the whole country (The Manila

Times, 2016).

The Philippine government remains heavily reliant on the use of the 911 and

other emergency numbers for incident response (Department of Information and

Communications Technology, 2018), but is that a suitable action for the situation of the

Philippines? In spite of national hotlines such as 911, and centralized hotlines as

Quezon City’s 122, there is still a big range of seven digit numbers that exist, which

operate only in certain areas or barangays. This situation may make it harder for people

to decide who to call in the face of extreme emergencies. Using the information provided

before, it is important to discover whether or not the Filipino citizens have the

appropriate amount of knowledge to utilize the help that they may obtain using the

available communication channel, and whether this knowledge, if present, serves as a

motivation for them to actually make use of the hotlines in appropriate situations.

There are also local units of the National Disaster and Risk Reduction

Management Council (NDRRMC) established through the Philippine Disaster and Risk

Reduction Management Act of 2010, although according to a study conducted by

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Alcayna et. al., these are severely understaffed and have no resources to properly orient

the people on the plans of the government to promote emergency preparedness

(Alcayna, Bollettino, Dy, & Vinck, 2016). Although the existence of post-disaster

management plans are welcomed in the country, the need for pre-disaster planning is

more invaluable to the people, says Alcayna (2016). There is a significant lack of

literature concerning the knowledge of the people about the available emergency

programs within their vicinity, more particularly the emergency numbers available to the

public.

As was in the case of Tacloban City during the Typhoon Yolanda, it was later

discovered that the people did not know the meaning of the term “storm surge”, which

led to believe that there was no need for immediate evacuation and preparation. If there

had been sufficient knowledge within the community, like describing the storm surge as

something similar to a tsunami, the people would have been more alert as to the severity

of their situation (United Nations Development Program, 2014). These kinds of

situations, where the improper dissemination of information—if there is any at all—can

lead to worse situations than simply having a natural disaster strike. Tragedy has left the

Filipino community vulnerable far too many times, and it should be time for the people to

become proactive instead of just reactive. In an article in Rappler, the importance of the

Freedom of Information Bill (FOI Bill) was related to the emergency practices of the

people, stating that in the event of its passage, people will have a clearer image of the

situation of the country, and will therefore take the initiative to educate themselves on

what they can do become self-sufficient (De la Cruz, 2014).

Quezon City, District 2, home to five barangays and almost 4 million people, is

vulnerable, not only to the dangers of the tempestuous climate change that we suffer

from, but from the dangers that man makes by himself. Emergency hotlines that the
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government operates in anticipation of such calamities are available, but not everyone

knows about them, and those who know may not have enough trust in the government

to put their lives in the hands of the country’s leaders and civil servants. It is therefore

essential to know the extent of the public’s knowledge, and to discover whether these

knowledge are put into use. It is a need to find out what can be improved, or if there is a

need to change the system to keep the people safe. The study therefore aims to

determine the level of knowledge and related usage that the masses possess in relation

to their socio-economic status, and in turn provide answers to how possible

communication problems may be resolved.

Theoretical Framework

Action Assembly Theory (AAT) seeks to explain the relationship between

cognitive processes and Behavior (Pruim, 2014). There are two generations of AAT, first

was proposed in 1984 by John Greene. His hypothesis in the first theory was that

thoughts shape action. In order to justify his claim he used Charles Pierce’s quote “The

whole function of thoughts is to produce habits of action”. The AAT also discusses the

cognitive process wherein people store information based on their perception, whether it

is needed or not.

This theory is mainly concerned about how an individual’s thoughts get

transformed into action. AAT explains the production of behavior in two essential

processes: the retrieval of procedural elements for long term memory and the

organization of procedural elements to form an output representation of the action to be

taken.
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In this theory, it is explained that a person forms a message by using both

content knowledge and procedural knowledge. Content knowledge refers to knowledge

regarding specific things, including possessing information about relational partners,

conversational topics, social contexts, the rules of the language and rules of

conversation. While procedural knowledge refers to knowing how to do things using the

information gained, including the processes such as formulating and prioritizing goals,

solving problems, explaining and predicting others’ behavior, selecting, coordinating and

implementing relevant skills (Knapp, 2002).

The center of AAT is the procedural record that contains information about

action, outcomes and situation. Individual’s memory has these records in a lock which

can be used in the near future. Procedural record is a set of links among nodes in a

network of action (Knapp, 2002). Some of the procedural records are just automatic

associations because of the repetition of the operation itself. Whenever a person acts,

the person must assemble suitable procedures or behaviors.

Out of the actions in the procedural records, a person must choose the most

suitable action for the circumstance to accomplish the consequence that the person

desires. Some set of assembled actions requires little effort because it is already in the

persons procedural records and it is called as unitized assemblies.

Knowledge and motivation are not the only things that the action assembly

process requires but also the ability to efficiently and quickly retrieve and organize the

necessary actions. According to Greene (2007), information retrieval isn’t random. He

believes that the activation process has a systematic and predictable selection process

through which some procedural records are activated while others are not. However,
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Greene does not believe that people have the same high level of control over their

procedural records.

Figure 1 Action Assembly Theory (Study Model of

Research due to lack of Model in Reviewed Literature)

AAT offers to tell the link between cognitive process and behavior. It explains

how knowledge affects the behavior of a person. The theory is mainly concerned with

how an individual's thoughts get transformed into action. More importantly, with the lens

of AAT, the link between knowledge and usage becomes the primary focus of attention.

AAT mentioned the concepts content knowledge, procedural knowledge, cognitive

process, activation process and action. These concepts in AAT are used in the

theoretical framework.

Figure 1 presents the framework devised by the researchers for the theory, since

the literature that they were able to access did not contain any images of the original

framework. The rectangle on top represents the demographic profile of the respondents

who, according to literature (Dewing, 2010, revised edition 2012), is characterized by

his/her socioeconomic status and educational attainment. The arrow pointing to Content

knowledge and Procedural Knowledge shows that demographic profile might affect the
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knowledge of a person. According to Knapp (2002), Content Knowledge is the

knowledge who answers the question “what is it” and “why is it” happening while

Procedural Knowledge answers “how” and “when”.

These knowledge affects the cognitive process wherein the ability of storing the

information of a person depends on his/her perception of whether it is needed or not.

The arrow below the cognitive process shows that it affects the activation process which

is, according to Greene (2007), a systematic and predictable selection process of

knowledge. However, not all knowledge is activated due to the influence of cognitive

process. After the process of activation, the display of changes in behavior is

unpredictable.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 2 Conceptual Framework of Action

Assembly Theory
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In the age of communication technology and social media, accessibility is an

important key to progress (Castells, 2013), and its impact can go either in a positive or

negative direction. One of the more reliable forms of communication used universally by

most countries in the world is the telephone (Frequentis, 2003). With this information, the

researchers decided to determine the knowledge of the Filipino people in terms of

accessible government communication networks in the occasion of an emergency,

namely government operated emergency hotlines or GOEH.

In figure 2, the researchers have adapted the constructed model and replaced

the variables to accommodate the concepts of the study. Each variable was replaced to

represent the variables to be examined throughout the data collection and analysis stage

of the study. With support of past studies and literature, the researchers wish to

establish the validity and necessity for each variable in this section of the paper.

The first variable to be examined is the demographic profile. In the conceptual

model of the study, this was replaced by age, gender, socio-economic status (SES) and

educational attainment. These variables are viewed by the researchers as necessary to

determine is the level of knowledge of the respondents is directly related to their profile.

Age is taken into consideration because with the advancement of technology, the

younger generations are also becoming the dominant users of media, such as the

internet, or social media in particular (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2016). And with the

Philippines being mainly comprised by the youth (The Age and Sex Structure of the

Philippine Population: Facts from the 2010 Census, 2012), it is necessary to determine

whether the age of the people also affects their obtained knowledge, or whether a

particular age group has more information regarding GOEH. This way, it can be

identified whether the problem of accessibility is the root of lack of knowledge in a

particular age group.

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The next variable is gender, which according to a study conducted by Oblinger

(2003) and Byron (2008) can predict the reason for usage of the population of internet

and media users. Women tend to use the internet and other forms of media for

socialization and trend-watching, creating connections with the outside world, while men

use media for sports, news, and entertainment such as videogames, and members of

the LGBTQ+ community are a mix of the two (Oblinger, 2003). This affects the kind of

information that they are able to access on a daily basis. By studying this variable, the

researchers determined whether the respondents’ gender serves as a restriction to their

access to information regarding GOEH.

Socio-Economic Status or the SES of the respondents is the financial status or

their standing in the economy, whether they belong to the upper class, upper middle

class, lower middle class, or lower class of society. This variable is important because

their financial capacity also predicts what media and information sources they can

access on a regular basis (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2016). It is said that people in

lower economic positions have unstable and limited access to information necessary for

having a high level of knowledge and awareness (Tichenor et. al., 1970). It also restricts

their access to mobile phones and landline connections that may affect their usage and

practice in terms of GOEH. A study indicated that people of higher education status are

more likely to develop information seeking behavior regarding social issues such as

public safety and communication (Oblinger, 2003). If this is put into the context of Everett

Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory (1971), the people who reached higher in the

academe may be considered as part of the early adopters of ideas, and they can aid in

informing others about the available GOEH in the Philippines.

According to Manuel Castells (2013), chair professor of Communication

Technologies and Society of the University of Southern California, our society is one that
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thrives from connectivity and digital information, which has enabled the organization of

society based on the amount of information that an individual has obtained. This idea will

be discussed further in the second chapter of the paper, but the concept of which was

the origin of the added variables into the conceptual model that were not mentioned in

the original framework shown in figure 1. To discuss these variables, they are grouped

according to their medium. The first of which is word of mouth, or from conversation and

discussion among people who directly interact with each other without the use of any

media. This was the original method of transferring information before the use of

communication technologies (Meltsner, 1995), but social media sites (Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, and others) is included in the category since they offer

connectivity and specialized postings, tailored to activities of the users, and they offer a

limited set of information regarding the topic (Dewing, 2010, revised edition 2012), so the

researchers wish to find out whether the use of this method is also used to spread

information regarding GOEH, and whether this information is enough to not simply

create awareness but also to raise the level of knowledge of the respondents.

The next variables are internet websites and social media websites or the

internet in general, which are presented as separated variables because of the variety of

information that can be obtained from each. Internet websites, namely search engines

(Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and MSE), video streaming sites (YouTube, Netflix, and others),

and government websites of the Philippines, is studied as separate variables because

they offer a wider range of information,along with the paid advertisements that can be

seen in social media websites.

And last are the traditional tri-media; television, radio, and print. Since

information here can either be latent or manifest, and people often still rely on these

media on the occasions that they do not use the internet, these are still important
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sources of information (Castells, 2013). Using these variables, the researchers wish to

determine whether the range and depth of information that people obtain and retain are

reliant on the mode by which they obtained it.

The next variable is the level of knowledge towards GOEH, which serves as the

main problem of the paper. This variable determined whether the earlier given variables

have any effect on the depth of understanding that people have about GOEH. By

determining this, the researchers examined what the possible effects of knowledge may

be to the usage of the people when it comes to emergency situations where the need for

help may arise, particularly help-seeking through GOEH. It concludes what kind of

information is obtained through the communication medium given and the accessibility of

these information determined by their demographic profile.

The next two variables are the cognitive processes involved in the translation of

information into knowledge, attention and retention. Greene (2007) states that cognitive

process determines the extent of information that is obtained by an individual which can

be stored in the memory center of the brain. Attention, or selective attention, determines

what kind of information people seek out and pay attention to, while selective retention

predicts what kind of information people see as important and store for future use. This

will be further discussed in the review of relevant literature in the preceding chapter.

Emergency situations, such as earthquakes, medical needs, fires, crimes, and

other triggers are the activators that triggers the recall of knowledge for an individual. If

the need arises that stored information should be remembered, the pieces of knowledge

that they consider as necessary for their situation will be the first to get recalled by their

brains (Pruim, 2014). By taking this variable into consideration, the researchers
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determine the extremity of a situation before the respondents recall the knowledge that

they have regarding GOEH.

The last variable is usage, which determined by all of the previous factors that

were stated in the framework. This variable helped the researchers know whether the

people rely on their existing knowledge of GOEH in times of need, and what are the

possible problems in the area of knowledge will pose to their usage.

By studying these variables, the researchers determined the usage of people in

hypothetical emergency situations in relation to their level of knowledge, and whether

these were affected by their demographic profile and the modes communication by

which they obtained the knowledge.

Statement of the Problem

The Philippines is one of the developing countries of the Asia Pacific, and as with

different aspects in our society, the communication platforms that we use to

communicate with our government are still being tailored to fit the needs of the people

(Dewing, 2010, revised edition 2012). Open communication with the government and the

people who are meant to protect the public is one of the main concerns in the country

today; especially with the fear of the extra-judicial killings still a looming shadow over the

shoulders of the Filipino people (Francisco, 2016). In light of this, the question remains

about whether the people have made an effort to know about the emergency numbers

that they can use to contact the government, and whether this possible knowledge is put

to use. With this, the researchers ask the question:

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“What is the level of knowledge of Filipino Citizens of Quezon City on Government

Operated Emergency Hotlines and its relation to their level of usage?”

The researchers also take into consideration the following sub-problems while

undertaking the study:

1. What are the demographic profiles of the respondents in terms of their:

a. Sex,

b. Age,

c. Socio-Economic Status,

d. Educational Attainment,

2. What is the level of knowledge of the residents in Quezon City towards

Government Operated Emergency Hotlines?

3. What are the medium of communication by which the respondents acquired their

knowledge of the Government Operated Emergency Hotlines, with the following

options:

a. Television,

b. Radio,

c. Print,

d. Internet Search Engines

e. Word of Mouth through:

e.1. Face to Face

e.2. Online

4. What is the level of usage of the respondents of the Government Operated

Emergency Hotlines?

5. What are the frequent reasons that the respondents have when they use the

Government Operated Emergency Hotlines?

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6. What is the significant difference on the responses of the respondents’ Level of

Knowledge of Government Operated Emergency Hotlines when they are

grouped according to:

a. Sex,

b. Age Group,

c. Socio-Economic Status,

d. Educational Attainment,

7. What is the significant difference on the responses of the respondents’ on Level

of Usage of Government Operated Emergency Hotlines when they are grouped

according to:

a. Sex,

b. Age Group,

c. Socio-Economic Status,

d. Educational Attainment

8. What is the relationship between the Level of Knowledge of the respondents on

Government Operated Emergency Hotlines and their Level of Usage of such

numbers?

Hypothesis

H0A: There is no significant difference on the responses of the respondents on their

Level of Knowledge of Government Operated Emergency Hotlines when they are

grouped according to their demographic profile.

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H0B: There is no significant difference on the responses of the respondents on their

Level of Usage of Government Operated Emergency Hotlines when they are grouped

according to their demographic profile.

H0C; There is no relationship between the level of knowledge and level of usage of

Filipino Citizens of Quezon City towards Government Operated Emergency Hotlines.

Scope and Limitations

The study is conducted under the knowledge of the following limitations:

The researchers are subject to the rules of confidentiality; all names and

locations may be changed to accommodate the rights of the subjects to their privacy.

The researchers are limited to the information available to them through the

answers of the respondents to the study. Geography, time and financial constraints may

affect the researchers’ ability to follow up on the information that they received.

The representative sample gathered by the researchers may not be an accurate

reflection of the results when examined on a national scale. The study is conducted

within the Metro Manila area during a certain period of time, and changes in certain

variables may alter the results drastically, none of which are within the control of the

researchers.

The researchers focused on the knowledge and usage of the residents in Manila

in emergency hotlines and government hotlines. The general emergency hotlines and

government hotlines in this study were gathered by the researchers according to their
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purpose and proximity. The hotlines Patrol (117), QC Emergency Hotline (122), QC

Department of Public Order and Safety, QC Office of the City Engineer, QC

Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, QC Parks Development

and Administration Department, QC Fire Department, QC Police District, QC Red Cross,

Barangay Operations Center, Government Complaint Hotline and the National

Emergency Hotline are included in this study.

The researchers conducted a survey from District 2 in Quezon City to get their

knowledge and usage in the emergency government hotlines. The researchers selected

the residents of Quezon City because according to GMA News (2015), Quezon City is

the city most exposed to danger in Metro Manila and the researchers assured that the

respondents of the study represent the different sectors of society to avoid bias. District

2 is chosen because it has the highest population density of the districts belonging to

Quezon City.

Significance of the Study

The study entitled “The Level of Knowledge of Selected Quezon City Residents on

Philippine Emergency Hotlines and its Relation to their Level of Usage” benefits the

following sections:

• To the respondents

This study can contribute ideas and knowledge regarding the emergency government

hotlines that they are not familiar with. The result of this study can increase the
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knowledge of the residents of Quezon City on the emergency hotlines and government

hotlines as well as their knowledge on it and their usage towards the hotlines.

• To the Local Government Units

Through this study the Local Government Units can be informed about the level of

knowledge and usage of the residents of Quezon City in Emergency Government

hotlines. This study can help them on improving their promotions and be more efficient.

Definition of Terms

Demographic Profile. This term refers to the characteristics of the respondents in terms

of gender, age, Economic status, and educational attainment.

Economic Status. This term refers to the financial status of the respondent.

Communication Medium- This term refers communication channel by which the

respondents acquired their knowledge of the emergency hotlines.

Level of Knowledge- This term refers to the degree of respondents’ understanding

towards government operated hotlines.

Level of Usage- This term refers to the degree of the application or practice of the

respondents towards the GOEH.

Government Operated Emergency Hotlines- (GOEH) This term refers to the

Emergency hotlines in QC that are operated by the government (Police, fire, Hospital,

and complaints hotline).