CONTACT TRACING TRAINORS. New Task Force Kasaligan members perform drills during a recruitment activity at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City on Sept. 3, 2020. PRO-7 chief, Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, said on Friday (Sept. 4, 2020) that the Philippine National Police in Central Visayas will send a team of contact tracing trainors to Iloilo to bolster the province's efforts to address the rising number of Covid-19 cases. (Photo courtesy of Leonyl Aubree Eneriquez Marante's Facebook page)
CEBU CITY – The Police Regional Office-7 (Central Visayas) will send a team of trainors to Iloilo to share the best practices in this city’s contact tracing techniques to the front-liners fighting against the rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, PRO-7 chief, on Friday said the successful methods in containing the coronavirus in this capital city will be replicated in some other areas that need help in addressing increased cases of the dreaded disease.
Department of Health (DOH-6) chief epidemiologist Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe said in a new report that the total number of Covid-19 cases in Western Visayas has reached 5,140 as 157 new cases were recorded on Thursday.
“The best practices would be replicated and possibly help in containing the transmission of Cobvid-19 in Iloilo,” Ferro said during the enlistment activity of the Task Force Kasaligan (Kaluwasan sa mga Amigo Cops ug Sugbuanon Ang Gusto Sa Atong Liderato nga Ipatuman Gumikan sa Hulga sa COVID-19 Alang Natong Tanan) at the Bayfront Hotel here.
Ferro cited the contribution of contract tracers in “identifying the unseen enemy by possibly identifying the carrier of the coronavirus and manage the transmission”.
The PRO-7 chief, however, said infusing discipline to the populace has also been a big factor in managing the spike of Covid-19, particularly in enforcing the minimum health protocols set by the government.
The police office decided to send contact tracing trainors to Iloilo to reciprocate the help of Western Visayas, which was among the regions that earlier deployed their police troops here to augment the front-liners in Covid-19 hotspots.
Meanwhile, Ferro said the task force patterns its recruitment for volunteers after the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ reservist program wherein the Philippine National Police (PNP) will bestow police ranks – from enlisted to officers – to their recruits.
“We are envisioning a police auxiliary program that you will have an auxiliary rank… it depends on how you progress because we want you to be a ready force on law enforcement side,” he said.
The task force, he said, is organized to address and mitigate the spread of Covid-19 within the community. It recruits volunteers to become members of the police auxiliary.
“It Is a proactive approach to speed up contact tracing, information dissemination to educate people in the community of the deadly disease and its effects to health and possible loss of lives through ricorida (public address system),” he added.
Cebu City Police deputy chief for operations, Col. Wilbert Parilla, said the PNP is eyeing to recruit criminology and criminal justice courses graduates from different colleges and universities here who will undergo preliminary trainings.
On Thursday, at least 165 recruits assembled at the Plaza Independecia during the Task Force Kasaligan's enlistment activity. But the Cebu City Police under Col. Josefino Ligan is determined to increase the task force’s strength to 200 members. (PNA)
