As DILG XII starts out the first day of the virtual orientation for contact tracers on September 29, support for the more than 1500 new hires began to pour in through donations of hygiene kits.
The 620 trainees who were newly hired by the Department composed the 1st batch of contact tracers from the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Gen. Santos City and Cotabato City have made it past the initial screening process to become part of the virtual Pre-deployment Training Orientation.
Halfway during the orientations on September 29, Regional Supply and concurrent Planning Officer Muhammad Farzieh Abutazil personally picked up from the office of Deputy Speaker for Mindanao and 2nd District Congressman Ferdinand L. Hernandez in Brgy. Sta. Cruz, this city, the hygiene kits for the contact tracers, as facilitated by Congressional Office Legislative Researcher Ms. Juvy Lyn M. Estember.
Mr. Abutazil happily received 1515 hygiene kits, placed in numerous huge sacks, for and in behalf of DILG XII RD Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III. Director Leysa, meanwhile, relayed her thanks to Congressman Hernandez for responding to the need of the contact tracers hired by the Department. “These are timely donations, indeed, and we give credit to Cong. Dinand for seeing our needs this early and the donations would be a big help to the Regional Office especially as these contact tracers will be deployed to various places as soon as possible,” added Dir. Leysa.
“Right now, September 30th, the 2nd batch of contact tracers from Cotabato Province and South Cotabato numbering about 851 are undergoing the virtual orientation. They will then serve as members of the Contact Tracing Teams (CTT) for three months,” the Director added.
Earlier, Dir. Leysa further explained, “Region XII was originally allocated 1451 slots for contract tracers but 50 more were added upon negotiations since the local situation demands more people on board in the light of reports about local transmission.”
In her message to the trainees, Dir. Leysa emphasized that ‘the efforts (on contact tracing) will result to what we all dream of: Covid-19-free days’ leading up towards the Christmas season. She closed by expressing hope that “we will have the best Christmas ever (without this Covid-19) this year.”
