The National Bureau of Investigation warns against the modus operandi of selling stolen container vans now that the demand for them has increased as they are being turned into isolation facilities, clinics, or mobile offices.
According to Noel Bocaling, chief of the NBI in Bulacan, the thieves are taking advantage of the opportunity as the demand for container vans has increased.
“Ang daming gumagamit, ginagawang mobile testing facility, ginagawang opisina or isolation facility, na minsan nakaw pala,” said Bocaling.
The NBI-Bulacan recently tracked down container vans stolen from a container yard.
It turns out that it was allegedly sold to a businessman and started as a building.
According to the complaining container yard, the suspects doctored the documents of their 18 container vans for it to be released.
The container vans are said to have an associated certification from the owner of the shipping line.
A 40-foot container van costs P300,000 while a 20-foot container van costs P100,000.
The purchase of stolen container vans was charged with violating the Anti-Fencing Law, while those who stole it were qualified theft.
Contact trace applicants exceed vacancies
The number of applicants has exceeded the required contact tracer of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Since Saturday, 8,751 have applied as DOLE contact tracers for the COVID-19 response effort. Of that number, 831 applied directly to DOLE while the rest were to local government units.
But only in the National Capital Region was contact tracer hiring opened and only 4,754 were needed by the agency.
It is said that those interested in contacting tracers have also reached other regions.
“Mayroon din po kaming na-note na mga former contact tracers na displaced, na meaning hindi na sila na-rehire so they applied,” said Karina Perida Trayvilla, director of Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns in DOLE.
“Sabi kasi ni Secretary [Silvestre Bello], we will leave it to the discretion of the regional director kung mayroong LGUs (local government unit) na gustong makipag-partner sa TUPAD program,” she added.
TUPAD is DOLE’s emergency employment program.
The DOLE is also studying whether to increase their hiring using other programs to address unemployment.