Manila COVID-19 contact tracers receive allowance

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

December 21, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — After three years, the 844 people the Manila city government hired as contact tracers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2021 to 2022 may finally claim their health emergency allowances, Mayor Isko Moreno announced yesterday.

Moreno said the city allotted P26,648,750 for the emergency allowances covering July 2021 to August 2022, adding that the funds came from the national government.

According to the list provided by the city government, each of the contact tracers could receive as little as P2,000 to as much as P72,000.

Moreno said the city treasurer opened its office yesterday to release the payments.

He added that he was surprised after learning that the previous administration did not address the issue.

According to Moreno, former mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan did not sign the memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health (DOH) for the employment of contact tracers and the provision of health emergency allowance.

“The DOH gave me a copy of the agreement, the same agreement they gave to the previous administration. I signed it on Sept. 24,” Moreno said in Filipino.

Saying it was long overdue, Moreno said he would make sure that the contact tracers would receive their allowances during his term.