Naniniwala si dating Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Usec. Eliseo Rio na nakaapekto ang hindi pagpansin ng Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) sa rekomendasyon ng ahensya sa mataas pa rin na mga kaso ng COVID-19 sa bansa.
Sa isang Facebook post, ipinaabot ni Rio ang pagkabahala matapos umanong balewalain ng IATF ang rekomendasyon ng DICT para suportahan ang data utilization.
Agad daw kasing inaprubahan ng IATF ang StaySafe.ph bilang solong contact tracing application, nang hindi sinisilip ang ilang issues ng aplikasyon.
“Last Sunday, June 7, I have to break my silence to reach out to the IATF that if they only depend on StaySafe as the government contact tracing app, we would never be able to flatten this pandemic curve which will mean more deaths and may damage our economy that may take years to recover.”
Ayon kay Rio, noong Abril pa ipinasa sa IATF nina Sec. Gregorio Honasan at Sec. Carlito Galvez ng National Task Force against COVID-19 ang “COVID-19 Central Platform.”
Bunga raw ito nang inihanda niyang Oplan COVID-19 Central Platform noong Marso, na target kolektahin ang datos na nakukuha ng iba’t-ibang ahensya ng gobyerno.
“I mobilized the ICT sector to be part of this Oplan and got support from UNDP in terms of software, hardware and IT expertise not only local, but from Singapore and South Korea, countries that have already flattened their curves. The Platform includes among others a data warehouse and a common dashboard of the NTF at no cost to the government.”
Dagdag pa ni Rio, kahit mismong si Sec. Galvez pa ang nagpanukala sa IATF nang pagbuo sa Information System Task Group, ay hindi pa rin ito pinansin ng mga opisyal.
Kaya hindi na raw siya nagtaka na posibleng may kinalaman sa pagpili sa StaySafe ang dahilan nang pagtanggap ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa kanyang resignation letter, na apat na buwan nang nakabinbin sa Malacanang.
“Going back to the morning of May 22, I calmly accepted the President’s decision but I knew then that it was this unreasoned interest on StaySafe that led to it. However, at that time, I said to my self that StaySafe might become effective after all as a contact tracing app,” ani Rio.
Binubuo ng siyam na government agencies ang IATF na pinamumunuan ng Department of Health (DOH).
