Repeal of Higala App law mulled

The City Council committee on health and health insurance chaired by Councilor Maria Lourdes S. Gaane thoroughly discussed the proposal to repeal Ordinance No. 14023-2021, also known as Higala App or QR Code Ordinance, which is the city’s contact tracing system for COVID-19 response plan and other highly infectious diseases.

During the meeting, Councilor James K. Judith II, author of the proposal to abolish the QR Code requirement, said this is in response to the report of Councilor Roger G. Abaday who earlier reported the complaints of parents that some schools still require students and guardians to present QR Code upon entering the school premises causing them inconvenience.

According to Councilor Judith the City has suspended the implementation of the Higala App ordinance sometime in 2021 after it considered the request of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of

Commerce and Industry to review the ordinance upon its finding that the Higala App is redundant, restrictive, punitive, and risky.

He opined that the implementation of the ordinance is the problem because it failed to accomplish its primary goal when the QR Code was developed.

Judith said the Higala App is not widely used and has not been integrated into the StaySafe App System of the DOH, which is the contact tracing app developed by the national government thru the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

Even the national government advised the local government unit that it was not essential to create its own contact tracing system because the StaySafe App already existed, Judith added.

For his part, Councilor Malvern Esparcia observed that some school owners still require QR Code since it is mandated by law.

He said the ordinance should be repealed because it is now ineffective.

Councilor Gaane agreed to Councilor Esparcia, saying that the intention is good but the implementation was ineffective.

However, she said it may be useful as the purpose of the QR Code is for the contact tracing not only for COVID-19 pandemic but also for other infectious diseases, as stipulated in the ordinance.

DATA PRIVACY ACT

Zelfred Anthony Cocon of the City Management Information System and Innovation Department (CMISID) said a data privacy consent will appear in the app as required by the Data Privacy Commission.

“If mag register sa Higala App, naa nakabutang ang data privacy consent para aware ang naghatag sa data asa gamiton ang data (ug) unsay purpose,” he stressed.

As this developed, Councilor Gaane deferred the proposal subject to submission of comments and recommendation by the City Health Office and the local IATF.