Drilon: DOH can tap P18B fund under ‘Bayanihan 2’ for hiring of contact tracers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) can tap into an P18 billion fund under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover As One (Bayanihan 2) Act for the hiring of contact tracers from barangay health workers, parent-leaders from the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), and civil society organizations, Senate Minority Floor Leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday.

In a statement, Drilon said that the P18 billion fund under the Bayanihan 2 — which is a supplement of Republic Act 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal As One Act”— will be used for cash-for-work program and the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program, “such as but not limited to temporary hiring of data encoders, and other personnel as may be necessary for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and for the emergency subsidy to a worker in critically-impacted sectors and industries.”

“There are funds made available from the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act to boost our contact tracing capability. The new Bayanihan law made sure that the three T’s (test, trace and treatment) will have ample support and funding,” Drilon said.

“The DOH should just mobilize around 400 thousand barangay health workers and parent-leaders from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to carry out contact tracing. They can do contract tracing with ease and efficiency because of their familiarity with the place rather than hiring a new army of contact tracers,” he added.

This comes after the Senate questioned the DOH’s proposal for P11.7 billion for the hiring of 136,000 contact tracers to boost the country’s fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Doctors also urged the upper chamber of Congress to reconsider its stance on the matter.

The Senate Minority Floor leader then added that the country “does not need a new network of 130,000 contact tracers,”  and the hiring of such should not be marred with politics.

“What we need is contact tracers, not an army of political supporters nor trolls,” Drilon said.

While the DOH may use the fund for contact tracers, Drilon also urged the department to “use available technology and networks of volunteers to boost its contact tracing efforts.”

“The contacts of COVID-19 patients should be immediately and properly traced through the use of efficient technology for data collection and analysis,” he said, citing innovations in contact tracing in local government units such as in Baguio City under Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

Magalong, who is a retired police general himself,  used computer-aided contact tracing and information gathered by police and medical investigators to locate possible COVID-19 carriers.