By Vanne Elaine Terrazola The Department of Health (DOH) should justify the P11.7-billion budget it eyes for the hiring of COVID-19 contact tracers, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Tuesday, May 26. Senate President Vicente Sotto III
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN) The Senate chief questioned the DOH’s request for P11.7 billion to finance the government’s contact tracing efforts, particularly the hiring of workers who will help in looking for the close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases. “DOH wants to spend P billion to hire contact tracers. Mayor Magalong’s excellent Baguio contact tracing did not need an amount!” Sotto wrote on Twitter. “We must ask to justify ,” he told reporters later. During the Senate committee of the whole’s hearings last week on the government’s COVID-19 response, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the government will need at least P11.7 billion to employ over 130,000 contact tracers for three months. Such a number will meet the 1:800 ratio between contract tracers and the country’s population, he said. Duque said competent contact tracers shall be hired and be paid P30,000 per month. Baguio City has been lauded for its aggressive contact tracing, which involved not only health personnel but also law enforcers and investigators. Magalong said in a recent television interview that contact tracers were primarily trained to build rapport with residents to quell concerns about data privacy. The information gathered were then saved to their database for analysis of the COVID-19 situation in their locality. Baguio City’s COVID-19 monitoring website stated that the city has 32 confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection, as of May 26. Of these, 29 have already recovered while one has succumbed to the disease. Two remain “active” cases. Government economic managers earlier pitched the hiring of contact tracers to boost the country’s fight against the COVID-19 outbreak and, at the same time, help provide jobs for workers displaced by the pandemic.