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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DILG running out of funds for hiring contact tracers

DILG running out of funds for hiring contact tracers

Published Mar 15, 2021 02:25 pm

A Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) official admitted Monday, March 15, that the available funds for the hiring of contact tracers is only good up to June this year.

DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN)

DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said that the agency had requested Congress for additional funds to beef up its contact tracing expenses and ensure the continued service of the contact tracers from July to December this year.

He explained that the current available funds for contract tracers was from the 2021 budget given by Congress including the unreleased portion from the Bayanihan Act.

Malaya noted that the funds requested by the DILG will just be included in the Bayanihan Act 3. He said its release will now be up to the Lower House and the country’s economic managers.

He also explained that there is no connection between funds and the contact tracing ratio, what with earlier reports that the contact-tracing ratio in the Philippines is only 1:7 instead of the target 1:30 ratio.

Malaya said that the ratio refers to the performance of the contact tracers which is under the control of the local government units (LGUs).

Explaining that the LGUs are responsible for the supervision of the contact tracers, Malaya said the Local Government Units are in charge of deploying, giving assignments and discussing matters concerning contact tracing.

With this set-up, Malaya emphasized that the DILG had constantly called the attention of the LGUS to improve their contact tracing performances.

Malaya also stressed that there was no problem in hiring of the contact tracers as all funds released by Congress were used for the purpose.

Last year, Malaya clarified that P1.4 billion remained unreleased from Bayanihan Act 1 while the P500 million funds under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was utilized for the rehiring of 15,000 contact tracers.

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