Emergency Cell Broadcast System
Emergency Cell Broadcast System (ECBS) is the Philippines’ way to push emergency alerts to mobile phones. It uses cell broadcast services, and telecom companies along with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) are required to send free alerts before disasters.
The system is part of Republic Act 10639, the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, signed on June 20, 2014, with implementing rules released on July 21, 2015. At first, alerts were sent as SMS. ECBS was launched on March 13, 2017, by the NDRRMC and Smart Communications.
Alerts are created by the NDRRMC with input from other government agencies. The system has a character limit per message and uses a computer program to generate and send alerts. ECBS is location-specific, meaning messages are sent to phones in a defined area. This is different from the older SMS-based alerts, which go to individual phone numbers and can take hours because they rely on telecom providers.
On April 3, 2025, Masbate City residents reportedly received emergency alerts that were later described as false, linked to promoting members of the Kho family ahead of the 2025 elections. The major telecom providers denied wrongdoing, and the National Telecommunications Commission is investigating.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:31 (CET).