DILG hires more than half of required contact tracers

FILE – A contact tracing team of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the Quezon City government conducts house to house tracing of possible COVID-19 patients in Brgy. Baesa on Wednesday, July 15.  INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) hired more than 26,000 out of 50,000 contact tracers, saying they are deployed to  various local government units (LGUs) nationwide.

“Even prior to the signing of the Bayanihan 2 Law, the DILG field offices were already preparing for the recruitment, hiring, and training of the new contact tracers. And now, a few weeks after the signing of the law, more than 26,000 have already been hired and deployed to the various provinces,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.

Año added that they are confident of completing their target of 50,000 contact tracers by the end of this month.

Data from DILG showed that 45 percent or 12,421 of the target contact tracers were hired for Luzon; 69 percent or 6,234 for Visayas, and 62 percent or 8,217 for Mindanao.

DILG assured the employed contact tracers that they will receive personal protective equipment and other essential tools for their duties.

The Department of Budget and Management already released half of the P5 billion earmarked for training and hiring of additional contact tracers under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2).

CFC