Nocppo aims to get nod of LGUs for ‘paperless’ contact tracing

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) here is hopeful that their initiative to help prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the province will be adopted and approved by the local government units (LGUs).

Nocppo has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Let’s Talk Incorporated, an online tutorial services, which covers the cities of Silay, Talisay, Bago and Murcia town, two weeks ago after introducing a system which can help authorities in the contact tracing efforts.

Pilot testing in these four areas is ongoing to determine the effectiveness of the paperless contact tracing measure.

In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Colonel Romy Palgue, Nocppo director, said the system will eliminate the risk of people getting the infection from the traditional logbook system using pen and paper.

“Kahit face to face, pag meron ng system na ito, mas madaling ma detect kung sino iyong may COVID at may contact to any suspected or probable case. They can be barred from entering any establishment,” Palgue said.

Palgue said others might be hesitant to register online because they thought it might also detect their location.

But he clarified that it’s not the case since it has its own server and it does not violate the data privacy act.

Palgue said it’s only a one-time entry, thus he is looking forward that such measure will be implemented provincewide to have all the data centralized.

Palgue said he already presented the idea to the members of the Provincial COVID task force, and he received positive feedbacks from them.

“They were very happy to know about the system and the success of the initial pilot testing,” he added.

Once the pilot testing is done, they can also introduce the system to other LGUs.

Meanwhile, Felix Gabriel Mangubat of Let’s Talk, said Negrenses can register via www.contracovid.com.ph

Mangubat said the data gathered by the system is protected, secured and encrypted.

Thus they don’t have to worry as we respect the privacy and movement of the people, he added.

“With this system, we are not just settling down for contact tracing,” he said.

Mangubat said the objective of the said approach is to also help frontliners make their reporting easier, faster, and efficient especially in data-gathering and contact tracing.

Mangubat said their system is different from that of the Bacolod’s contact tracing efforts, but he said that both still aim for COVID prevention.

He said they are hoping that Bacolod can also see the beauty of the system. They are open if Bacolod would also try to explore such initiative.

Nocppo and Let’s Talk Inc. believed that such measure is one of the finest moves in the war against the threat of the virus.