Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday said that qualified Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and displaced workers will be prioritized in the hiring of 50,000 more contact tracers as the government continues its fight against the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).
In President Duterte’s “Talk to the People on Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)’’ meeting, Año reported that 9,600 contact tracers will be assigned in Metro Manila, 5,992 in Central Luzon and 5,810 in Southern Tagalog.
The DILG chief thanked the President for signing the P5-billion “Bayanihan to Recover as One otherwise known as Bayanihan 2 Republic Act 1149’’ that allowed the agency to hire more additional contact tracers.
He noted that the qualified applicants will be trained before being deployed to their places of assignments.
After 89 barangay captains were issued with six-month preventive suspensions due to Social Amelioration Program (SAP) anomalies, Año told the President that 357 administrative cases are now being investigated against 416 other barangay officials for the same offense.
In the criminal cases aspect, Año said that 259 individuals were also charged before the Prosecutor’s Office “para managot sila sa batas natin (to make them answerable to the law)’’.
The filing of the said charges according to Año only proves that the administration will never tolerate corruption in the government.