INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año yesterday appealed to the Senate to allocate P5 billion, out of the P162 billion fund under the Bayanihan to Recover as One bill, for the hiring and training of an additional 50,000 contact tracers needed in the fight against COVID-19.
In a letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Año cited the urgent need for contact tracers starting next month.
There are currently 7,000 contact tracing teams, composed of about 85,000 tracers, but Año said an additional 50,000 are needed to meet the World Health Organization recommended ratio of one contact tracer per 800 people.
“With a projected population of 108 million this year, we need 50,000 more contact tracers to attain the ideal number of 135,000 contact tracers to pursue quick and credible tracing of close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients,” said Año.
He also said the current number of contact tracers does not meet the recommendation of contact tracer czar Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong of a 1:37 patient to close contact ratio to cut the transmission of the disease.
“We need to significantly increase the number of contact tracers to meet the 1:37 ratio target recommended by Mayor Magalong which has been effective in Baguio and in Cebu City,” he added.
He stressed: “We are racing against time. Every single second counts and the longer we fail to expand our contact tracing capacity, the higher the probability that the virus spreads to more communities. We, therefore, need more contact tracers urgently to break the chain of transmission of this virus.”
DILG undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said the DILG is proposing the inclusion of a provision under Section 4 of the proposed measure that would include authorize the allocation of “P5-billion to finance the hiring of 50,000 contact tracers to be implemented by the DILG which shall include, but not limited to, recruitment, training, compensation and operational expenses.”
Malaya said the DILG is also proposing an amendment of Section 3 of the bill to ensure that contact tracing efforts in the community will be “subject to the rules and regulations to be issued by the DILG which shall include recruitment, training, compensation, among others, of contact tracers.”
Under the DILG proposal, the minimum qualifications for a contact tracer are: should be a graduate of a Bachelor’s degree on Allied Medical Courses or Criminology, one year relevant experience, and four hours of relevant training.
Second priority will be those who have completed at least two years of college education in medical or criminology- related courses provided they have the relevant training and experience.
“We will also prioritize the hiring of government contract of service personnel whose contracts have not been renewed due to COVID-19 budget realignments, returning Overseas Filipino Workers whose employments have been disrupted, and local company workers whose services have been recently terminated,” said Malaya.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ version of the Bayanihan 2 measure earmarks P10 billion to finance the infrastructure programs of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The P10 billion fund under House Bill 6953 was supposed to be a “working capital” for the programs of the DOT but was diverted to TIEZA to boost infrastructure spending during the pandemic, according to Bulacan Rep. Jonathan Sy-Alvarado, chair of the House committee on good government and public accountability.
“While we understand that the industry took one of the greatest hits when the pandemic struck, we would also like to remind everyone that we must still maintain balance in our pursuit of economic recovery. That includes considering our fiscal standing and our ability to create and fund programs that are inclusive for all sectors,” said Sy-Alvarado, one of the bill’s authors.
While the fund was diverted to TIEZA, credit and loan programs for tourism stakeholders will still be accessible through the assistance of Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) such as the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
Under Bayanihan 2, an amount of P51 billion will be allocated to GFIs with the following breakdown: P5 billion for the credit guarantee program of the Philippine Guarantee Corporation; P30 billion and P15 billion to support banking facilities and equity infusion of the LBP and the DBP, respectively; and P1 billion as additional funding for the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) Program of the Small Business Corporation and for its other lending programs to be extended to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Sy-Alvarado said the House-approved version of the Bayanihan 2 provides the mechanisms on how tourism enterprises can avail of the credit facilities through GFIs.
The House version of the measure sets aside an additional P162 billion for the government’s COVID-19 response this year.
Deputy speaker for finance Luis Raymund Villafuerte, a principal author of the measure, noted that every P1 spent on infrastructure will have a multiplier effect of 3.5, which means that the P10 billion for TIEZA under the House version of the Bayanihan 2 bill is expected to bring in around P35 billion into the tourism sector and economy.
Villafuerte said infrastructure investments via TIEZA would provide a big boost to the tourism sector by creating thousands of jobs for displaced industry workers.
Villafuerte had thumbed down the proposal of Tourism Congress of the Philippines President Jose Clemente III to provide what he called “bailouts” or “dole-outs” directly to private firms in the tourism sector as this is not allowed under the law which was backed by Tourism Secretary Berna Puyat.
Clemente wanted a P10 billion allocation for TIEZA be diverted to provide working capital and direct funding support to the tourism sector. — With Wendell Vigilia
