DOH: LGUs to submit recommendation on face shield use by Thursday

As several local government units dropped the use of face shields, the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said LGUs will submit an appeal or a recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force on the policy by Thursday.

“[T]he Metro Manila Development Council, headed by Chairman [Benhur] Abalos, said they are going to submit an appeal or a request recommendation to the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] by Thursday,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on CNN.

The DOH will also present on the same day its recommendation on using face shields

“So I think it just has to be organized by the MMDA [Metropolitan Manila Development Authority] and also by DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government] as to the different local governments doing these executive orders in spite of the existing protocol of IATF,” she added.

Vergeire reiterated the DOH’s call for LGUs to hold, for the meantime, their order and issuances on making the wearing of face shields optional.

The cities of Davao, Manila, and Iloilo have decided to scrap the use of face shields outside medical facilities

Penalties for LGUs

When asked if there will be consequences for LGUs, Vergeire said she is in no position to talk about penalties.

“What I can say is the IATF has been very collegial with the local governments from the start of this public health emergency,” she said.

Vergeire also believes that the DILG will reach a compromise with LGUs.

“Every time that there are these kinds of misalignments, we just talk to them and we reach compromises. So I think DILG may be able to handle this by doing such,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the use of face shields should be mandated by the alert level system imposed over an area.

“It should be by… alert level system because the alert level system would dictate or would say what type of transmission is happening in each area of the country,” she said.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday backed the mayors of Davao City and Manila after they issued executive orders lifting the mandatory wearing of face shields except in the hospital setting.

Año said the EOs cannot be considered null and void because local government units have the power to issue them.

This is despite the comment of Palace spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday saying those EOs are "null and void for being in violation of an existing executive policy decreed by the President."

The Palace on Monday warned mayors against defying the mandatory face shield policy for crowded and enclosed spaces, saying the policy remained in effect unless the IATF says otherwise. —KG, GMA News