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DOLE to hire 12K contact tracers in 'NCR Plus'

By Ferdinand Patinio

April 5, 2021, 4:51 pm

MANILA – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said 12,000 contact tracers will be hired in areas under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Rolly Francia, director of the DOLE-Information and Publication Service (IPS), said 5,000 contact tracers will be hired in the NCR while the remaining 7,000 will be employed in the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

On the other hand, Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said the workers will be employed under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.

“They will initially be hired for 10 days and then if their services are still needed, we could extend to 20 days or 30 days,” she said in a virtual forum.

The budget for the emergency employment program is PHP18 billion under the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Asked how much will workers get under the program, Tutay said, “If on the national average, what we use is 400 pesos per day times 10 days, multiply it by 12,000 contact tracers, that is the amount.”

At the same time, she reported that 8,000 workers were displaced during the first week of ECQ in the NCR Plus area.

“So between that time and March 31, an additional of around 8,000 workers have been displaced, retrenchment, and permanent closure,” Tutay said. (PNA)

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