Police to go after ‘bogus’ contact tracers

CEBU, Philippines — Police Regional Office-7 Director Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro has welcomed the request of the Department of Interior and Local Government to look into reports of a modus wherein contact tracers reportedly extort money from their victims.

Ferro said they will conduct investigation accordingly.

“We will investigate them as well. If they are (identified) to be fake contact tracers, they will be dealt with accordingly,” Ferro told reporters yesterday.

He, however, added that police have received no reports yet regarding fake contact tracers as far as the Central Visayas is concerned.

Last August 8, the DILG released a statement urging local government units and the PNP to be “vigilant against scammers of as it warns the public anew against persons posing as Department of Health (DOH) contact tracers extorting money from unsuspecting victims.”

Meanwhile, PRO-7 has finished the contact tracing manual that they will be distributing to the force multipliers, including the 151 Special Action Force (SAF) members who were sent back to the capital.

“Ang ato man gud advocacy is even if we are not involved in the contact tracing of those that are affected in the community, we are also contact tracing to our particular unit because we have to protect ourselves,” Ferro said.

“And one of the protections that we are implementing is a good contact tracing for the different territorial units here in Central Visayas,” he added.

The PNP, the DOH, and other law enforcement agencies are tasked to lead the contact tracing. In Central Visayas, an enhanced contact tracing training was spearheaded by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

The methods taught were cascaded to the barangay tanods and other force multipliers who will stand as the barangay cluster contact tracers to harmonize the system. — KQD (FREEMAN)