Magalong can’t say StaySafe.ph ‘highly reliable’

The Philippine government’s official contact tracing application StaySafe.PH

MANILA, Philippines — Tracing czar and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Tuesday admitted he cannot categorically say that the government’s official contact tracing application StaySafe.PH is “highly reliable,” months since its use was made mandatory for local government units (LGUs) and national agencies.

In a televised briefing, Magalong said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is still studying the application due to “lack of documentation.”

“Insofar as the DILG is concerned, nasa study and learning status pa po sila. Yan po yung talagang kulang pa po ang documentation na binigay ng StaySafe kaya hindi pa po natin makumpleto at masabing categorically na highly reliable na po itong StaySafe,” Magalong said.

(Insofar as the DILG is concerned, they are still in the study and learning status. StaySafe’s documentation is still lacking that’s why we could not complete and say categorically that StaySafe is highly reliable.)

“Kailangan pa po pag-aralan, ayusin pa at ayusin po pati yung documentation, enhance pa further ang kanyang functionalities,” he added.

(It should be further studied, the documentation should be ironed out and the functionalities should be further enhanced.)

The app’s developer Multisys Technologies Corp. turned over StaySafe.ph to the DILG in March. The DILG intends to integrate StaySafe.ph with the LGUs’ respective contact-tracing apps.

It was back in November 2020 when the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) made the use of StayStay.ph app mandatory for national government agencies and LGUs.

JE