DILG to continue hiring 50,000 contact tracers nationwide

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The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will do away with deadlines but instead is adopting the continuous hiring system until it has hired at least 50,000 contact tracers as part of its efforts to ramp up contact tracing in the country.

DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said that all DILG provincial and city field offices will continue to accept applications until the slots allocated to them have been filled up.

“What’s important to us is to fill up the slots and recruit the most number of Contact Tracers as provided in the Bayanihan 2 law so those who meet the deadline will immediately be processed but we will continue to accept applications until we have met our targets,” he said.

Malaya said that they intend to have the first batch of DILG-hired contact tracers deployed to the LGU Contact Tracing Teams by first week of October.

He said that some 10,000 individuals have already applied in Metro Manila but many with incomplete documents so they are giving them more time to complete their documents on a first come first served basis. “As soon as they are deemed qualified by the selection board, they will be hired, trained, and deployed to the various LGUs,” he added.

He said that contractual personnel whose employment were not renewed, Overseas Filipino Workers whose employment were disrupted, local employees whose service have been recently terminated, and Barangay Health Workers may be given priority in the hiring process if qualified.

To qualify, the applicant must have a Bachelor’s degree or college level in an allied medical course or criminology course. Aspirants must also be skilled in data gathering and have assisted in research and documentation; able to interview COVID-19 cases and close contacts in order to gather data; possess the ability to advocate public health education messages; and have investigative capability.

“While our first preference is college graduates or college level of allied medical courses or criminology, we are also open to graduates or college level of any course. So, we urge them to apply and help the country defeat COVID-19,” he said.

Malaya said applicants are required to submit an application letter, Personal Data Sheet, National Bureau of Investigation clearance, diploma or transcript of record, and drug test result to the nearest DILG provincial or city field office.

Under the guidelines drafted by the DILG, the contact tracers will earn a minimum of P18,784 per month in a contract of service status.

Among their responsibilities are to conduct interviews, profiling, and perform an initial public health risk assessment of COVID-19 cases and their identified close contacts; refer the close contacts to isolation facilities; conduct enhanced contact tracing in collaboration with other agencies and private sectors; conduct daily monitoring of close and general contacts for at least 14 days, and perform such other tasks in relation to the COVID response.

He said that the National Capital Region (NCR) will get 19.2% of the total number of the new contact tracers to be hired for the simple reason that it remains as one of the hot spots of COVID-19.

“Mas maraming naitatalang kaso, doon maglalagay ng mas maraming bagong contact tracer. Our new contact tracers will operate and work in all the regions of country with NCR having the biggest number,” said Malaya.

“It is crucial that a candidate must be willing to do research and investigation because that is the very essence of the job. Iyon ang hinahanap natin, isang tao na may pagmamahal sa bayan at handang magsasaliksik ng mga posibleng kaso ng COVID sa komunidad,” he added.

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