DOH urges LGUs to follow national mask mandate

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday urged all local government units (LGUs) to follow the national mask mandate after the Cebu province's leadership made wearing face masks optional in open and well-ventilated spaces.

“Naninindigan ang Department of Health ang pagsusuot ng face masks ay kailangang kailangan pa rin natin. Alam po natin na meron ng mga sub-variants na pumasok sa ating bansa at alam po natin na hindi pa ganoon kataas ang antas ng pagbabakuna sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng ating bansa,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(The DOH stands firm that wearing face masks is still much needed. We know that the sub-variants are entering the country, and the rate of vaccination is not that high in various parts of the country.)

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia recently issued Executive Order No. 16 which makes the use of face masks optional in well-ventilated and open spaces and required only in closed and air-conditioned spaces.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) immediately rejected Garcia’s EO as it reminded the public and local government officials that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and people can still catch the coronavirus.

“Kailangan lahat ng local governments, lahat tayo, iisa lang ang protocol na susundin natin. Kailangan sabay-sabay tayo and magtulong-tulong so that lahat tayo mapupunta tayo at maaatim ang 'new normal' na sinasabi natin," Vergeire said.

(All local government units, all of us, must follow a single protocol. We should help each other so that we can achieve the so-called "new normal.")

The DOH official said the Philippines should, for the meantime, continue the face mask mandate as it shielded the country from a massive surge in coronavirus cases, adding that face masks not only protect a person from COVID-19 but also against other respiratory diseases as well as monkeypox.

Vergeire noted that other countries that removed their face mask mandates saw a surge in new cases.

“Ang rekomendasyon ng ating eksperto ay huwag na muna, atin po munang ituloy ang pagsusuot ng face mask," she said.

(The experts’ recommendation is to not lift the mandate for now and to continue the wearing of face masks.)

"Darating tayo diyan, we take it one day at a time. Darating tayo sa time na mawawala ang face masks but we need to manage the cases muna sa ngayon."

(We will arrive there. We will take it one day at a time. We will come to a time when the wearing of face masks will be gone, but we need to manage the cases for now.)

Garcia defended the directive, saying the provincial government is merely "formalizing what is actually already happening" and that the Cebu government is invoking Section 105 of the Local Government Code in implementing the controversial EO.

The provision states that the Secretary of Health “may, upon the direction of the President and in consultation with the local government unit concerned, temporarily assume direct supervision and control over health operations in any local government unit (LGU) for the duration of the emergency, but in no case exceeding a cumulative period of six months. With the concurrence of the government unit concerned, the period for such direct national control and supervision may be further extended.”

“It’s been two years and I am ready now to test that. Local autonomy must prevail,” Garcia said.

In a separate statement, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said that the DILG has already given a clear directive for concerned agencies and LGUs to continue implementing measures that impose observance of minimum public health standards under different alert levels.

“Thus, the PNP will continue to enforce the standing orders and directives against those violators of the facemask rule,” it said.

“We will also continue to warn and remind the public not to relax as COVID-19 is still in our surrounding. We urge the public for cooperation to government measures on public health set by the National IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” it added. —VBL, GMA News