DOLE set to hire 12,000 contact tracers in NCR Plus Bubble

MANILA, Philippines — Some 12,000 contact tracers will be hired by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to be deployed within the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus Bubble.

Rolly Francia, director of DOLE’s Information and Publication Service, said that 5,000 contact tracers will be assigned in Metro Manila while the remaining 7,000 will be in provinces surrounding the capital region.

“Kanina po sinabi nya (Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello) na 12,000 contact tracers ang initially na iha-hire,” Francia said.

There are, however, no specific details yet on the rollout of the hiring program.

Bello earlier said that the local government units (LGUs) just need to train workers to perform the task of contact tracer for a period of between 10 to 15 days in their respective communities and cities.

He said by employing displaced workers as contact tracers, LGUs will be able to augment their manpower requirement to trace and identify COVID-19 cases.

Under DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced (TUPAD) Workers Program, displaced, underemployed and seasonal workers shall be provided with emergency employment for a minimum period of 10 days and a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.

“We will leave it [training] to the better judgment of the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) in selecting the worker-beneficiaries as contact tracers. It will depend on the number of contact tracers each LGU will need. We have sufficient budget for that,” Bello said.

JE