The Local Government Units (LGUs) should be the one in charge of providing the protective gear and other logistical support of the contract-tracers that would be deployed in their areas, an official of the Department of interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Saturday, March 20.

"Kapag ang isa pong individual ay kinuha bilang contact tracer, ang LGU na po ang nagpo-provide ng logistical requirements, PPEs (personal protective equipment). Kung kailangan ng communication equipment, mga load para sa cellphone, vehicle para pagpunta sa mga barangay (If an individual is hired as a contact tracer, the LGUs has to provide the logistic requirements and PPEs. If there is a need for communication equipment, load for the cellphone, vehicle to roam the barangays),’’ DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said.

Since no one is immune from the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), Malaya said the LGUs should ensure that the needs of the CTs are provided as mandated under the law more so that the universe of the contact tracers in the country is at the high of 255,000. 

“Ang bulto po niyan ay hired ng LGU or mga police volunteers or BFP na naka assign temporarily sa local tracing teams (The bulk of which are hired by the LGU or police volunteers or BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) who are assigned temporarily in the local tracing teams),’’ he added.

With the set-up, Malaya pointed out that the national government has provided funds to the LGUs last year for all COVID-19 related purposes including the well-being of the CTs.

Being considered as frontliners, Malaya reiterated that the contact tracers are entitled to be prioritized in the national vaccination program of the government and are under the A1 classification.

“Hindi nga lang sila hospital based but kapag sinabi na pong non-hospital based medical frontliners ay kasama na po yan ang ating mga contact tracers together with our barangay health workers and members of the BHERTs (Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams) (Those included (in the vaccination priorities) are not only the hospital based personnel. If we say non-hospital based medical front liners these include the contact tracers, barangay health workers and members of the BHERT),’’ Malaya explained.

The DILG official added the contact tracers are among the 1.4 million individuals in the priority list of the government's vaccination.

Surprised by the 7,103 COVID-19 cases on March 19, Malaya insisted the need to make the necessary adjustments like the possible  reassigning the CTs from the provinces to high-risk areas like Metro Manila if the trend continues.

“But considering our existing active cases, sapat pa naman yung ating contact tracers for NCR for now (there is still sufficient number of contact tracers for NCR (National Capital Region) for now,’’ Malaya ended.