Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL no® 978

Introduced by Honorable Wes Gatchalian

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE UNIFIED COVID-19 CONTACT TRACING SYSTEM
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR.

Explanatory Note

Contact Tracing is a public health strategy aiming to dramatically de-
crease, or at least contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease. During the
early stages of the pandemic, when community lockdowns and travel re-
strictions are in effect, it has been proven to be an effective measure of cur-
tailing transmission of the virus. Contact tracing allows us to identify, and
isolate persons who may have been exposed to an infected individual and pre-
vented them from further interacting with others.

As the government eased the community lockdowns and lifted travel
restrictions, however, contact tracing has become more challenging. Local
Government Units (LGUs) in the country, and the Inter-Agency Task Force for
the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) are having a
hard time in conducting thorough contact tracing due of cross border move-
ment of people and the apparent lack of shared COVID-19 database lack
among LGUs, Public and Private Establishment.

Last November 26, 2020, through Resolution No. 85 (s. 2020), the Inter-
Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases pre-
scribed the use of the Staysafe.ph platform as the official COVID-19 manage-
ment and monitoring application for all national government agencies and
offices, including local government units (LGUs). It also enjoined those with
their own contact tracing apps to integrate their respective systems with
Staysafe.ph. Some LGUs and industry sectors such as the tourism industry
however, preferred other platforms or create their own contact tracing appli-
cations, independent and separate from Staysafe.ph.


This non-centralized data collection produces redundant data, cost and
labor duplication and less effective contact tracing solutions. A person must
sign up or register to a different contact tracing application each time he en-
ters a different establishment, while some LGUs do not even have a unified
contract tracing system within their jurisdiction. In fact, it was just recently
when the city governments of Pasig, Valenzuela, and Antipolo have decided to
integrate the use of their respective contact tracing applications to boost ef-
forts in the fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

With that said, this Representation believes that we should have a uni-
fied contact tracing system. All contact tracing applications and initiatives in
the county should be interconnected and interoperable in order for us to cast
the widest net in the conduct of contact tracing. Although the vaccines for the
Covid-19 disease are already here, COVID-19 infections are still increasing in
Philippines, with 2,580 new infections reported on average each day. It is
therefore imperative that we continue amplify our efforts and maximize our
resources in combating the spread of the virus.

In view of the foregoing the prompt passage and approval of this
legislation is earnestly sought.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

8978
HOUSE BILL NO.

————

Introduced by Honorable Wes Gatchalian

ee

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE UNIFIED COVID-19 CONTACT TRACING SYSTEM
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR.

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines
in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Unified COVID-19
Contact Tracing System’.

SEC. 2. Definition of Terms. - Whenever used in this Act, the following terms
shall have the respective meanings herein set forth:

a. QR (Quick Response) Code shall refer to a machine-readable code con-
taining a matrix of dots which typically stores information, and which
can be scanned using a QR scanner or smartphone with built-in cam-
era.

b. Unified COVID-19 Central Contact Tracing System shall refer to the
system which gathers, stores, and disposes all information of the indi-
viduals who registered in the digital contact tracing app of Local Gov-
ernment Units, Government Offices and Private Establishments;

c. Registrant shall refer to the customers, visitors and employees of public
and private establishments, who are twenty-one (21) years old and
above;

d. Public Establishment shall refer to a building or enclosed place which
is owned, leased, or controlled by a government entity for governmental
purpose;

e. Private Establishment shall refer to a building or enclosed place which
is owned, leased, or controlled by a non-governmental entity for a

3


nongovernmental purpose, which includes but not limited to, commer-
cial, industrial, indoor establishments, churches, hotels, motels and
inns, supermarkets and markets;

f. Scanner shall refer to a device with functional camera, supports wire-
less internet access, and has the ability to run software applications
that will be used for scanning QR Codes;

g. Data Subject shall refer to an individual whose personal information is
processed; and

h. Consent of the Data Subject shall refer to any freely given, specific, in-
formed indication of will, whereby the data subject agrees to the collec-
tion and processing’ of personal Information about and or relating to
him/her. Consent shall be evidenced by written, electronic or recorded
means. It may also be given on behalf of the data subject by an agent
specifically authorized by the data subject to do so.

SEC 3. The Unified COVID-19 Contact Tracing System - The Department
of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), together with the De-
part of Health (DOH) and in coordination with the Inter-Agency Task Force on
Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), are hereby mandated to establish a
Unified COVID-19 Contact Tracing System.

The Unified COVID-19 Contact Tracing System will be a centralized repository
of Covid-19 contact tracing information of data subjects gathered by any Local
Government Units, Government Offices, Public and Private Establishments!
digital contact tracing application or software.

SEC 4. Interconnectivity and Interoperability of Digital Contact Tracing
Applications — For ease of contact tracing, all data gathered by any digital
contact tracing application in the country shall be automatically be transmit-
ted and integrated to the Unified COVID-19 Contact Tracing System in real
time. The data transmitted to the system
shall be utilized in tracing the movements of data subjects who have been
exposed or in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient, and shall be made
readily available to any agency, medical establishment, and/or government
units conducting the contact tracing.

Upon registration to a digital contact tracing system in the country, a regis-
trant shall be assigned a unique Quick Response Code (QR Code) which
he/she can present to a scanner prior to his/her entry in any establishments
requiring submission of contact tracing information. Local Government Units,
Government Offices, Public and Private Establishments in the country are
hereby mandated to introduce modifications to their respective digital contact
tracing applications to allow interconnection and interoperability with one an-
other.


SEC. 5. Handling and Processing of data. - All information gathered from
the data subjects of The Unified COVID-19 Contact Tracing System shall be
treated with the highest degree of confidentiality in accordance with Republic
Act No. 10173, otherwise known as the Data Privacy Act, and shall be securely
disposed of after thirty (30) days from the time it was collected.

SEC. 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within thirty (30) days
from the effectivity of this Act, the DICT, DOH, in coordination with the IATF-
EID shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to effectively imple-
ment the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 7. Appropriation. - The funds necessary to initially implement the pro-
visions of this Act shall be sourced from the available funds of the DICT and
DOH. Thereafter the funds necessary for the continuing implementation of
this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 8. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise
affected shall remain valid and subsisting.

SEC. 9, Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, exec-
utive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation con-
trary to or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed,
modified, or amended accordingly.

SEC. 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after
its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of gen-
eral circulation.

Approved,