By ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS
Malacañang laughed at the suggestion to hire “chismosas” or rumor-mongers as contact tracers and said police should train tracers in criminal investigation to enable them to track down possible carriers of COVID-19.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 7 director Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro raised the possibility that chismosas, the Spanish word for gossipers or rumor mongers, in the community could help authorities in their task as contact tracers.
In a radio interview, Roque could not help but laugh at the idea as he explained that contact tracers, according to Baguio City Mayor and tracing czar Benjamin Magalong, should have the ability to investigate.
“Ang importante po talaga ay mayroong background sa investigation lalung-lalo na criminal investigation. Kasi ang contact tracing wala daw pagkakaiba sa criminal investigation (It’s important that they have a background on criminal investigation because it has no difference with contact tracing),” he said.
“So imbes na siguro mga chismoso eh mag-train na lang iyong mga pulis kung paano ginagawa nila sa imbestigasyon nang magamit po ng mga kukunin nating mga contact tracers (So instead of chismosos, our police should train the contact tracers that we will hire what they are doing when conducting an investigation),” he added.
Roque, however, agreed that there was no special qualification for one to become a contact tracer.
“Kinakailangan lamang marunong mag-isip, marunong mag-analisa para makita niya kung sino talaga iyong network na nakahalubilo ng isang tao na nag-test na positive (One should know how to think and analyze in order to find out the contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case),” he said.
“Sumusunod naman po tayo sa kumpas ni Mayor Magalong pagdating po sa tracing (Let’s just follow Mayor Magalong when it comes to tracing),” he added.
