IT experts lobby free app for Cebu City’s QR passes

CEBU, Philippines —  Two Cebuanos have proposed an application for easier quarantine crowd control and contract tracing.

Mark Anthony Racal, an embedded software engineer, and Loucris Pongasi, a programmer, offered their services to the Cebu City government at no cost to the latter.

The two decided to lobby for the project after the city’s QR-coded quarantine passes drew flak from the residents.

Racal, a resident of Barangay Pardo, said the pass, an A4 bond paper with QR code, is not as sophisticated as city officials claimed it to be.

He said a QR code will still be used in the new app, but information will be encrypted and will only be verified by those at the checkpoints and establishments where one will go in.

The app, he said, is similar to that of Singapore. The only difference is that the bearer/holder will not scan the code, but rather the personnel at the checkpoints or guards on duty.

The app can also be used for contact tracing, said Racal.

Those people who came in close contact with an infected person will be notified through the app, he added.

Even those who are not from Cebu City will also have an assigned QR code for monitoring.

Although they have not yet made their demonstration to the Cebu City government pending the availability of the government officials, another local government unit in Cebu has already expressed interest in the said app.

Some residents have been complaining about the current quarantine pass’ size and its malfunctioning QR code.

Others also complained that compounds, subdivisions and condo units have only limited passes when the local government promised to give one pass per household.

Aside from Racal and Pongasi, a native of Cordova town, Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez also offered his help.  KQD (FREEMAN)