Mayor Rama rebuffs DILG chief’s request to defer it
Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama said Thursday his city will push through with plans to make the use of face masks voluntary in open spaces despite an appeal from the national government not to do so.
In an interview on Dobol B TV, Ramos invoked local autonomy to justify Cebu’s decision to no longer require face masks outdoors, despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let’s be practical because our thrust now is for economic recovery,” he said in Filipino. “We are a festival island.”
Rama’s statement contradicted Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, who said the Cebu mayor had agreed to defer the implementation of the executive order on masks while the case is brought up with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Citing the nationwide state of public health emergency, he said local governments must observe the same health policies.
“In the spirit of unity, I likewise appeal to all local chief executives to do the same until I bring this matter to the IATF. I have already requested the IATF Secretariat to immediately convene in order to thoroughly discuss this measure,” Abalos said in a statement.
“Be assured that I, and the whole of DILG, will support its implementation as soon as this initiative gains the concurrence of the experts and policy-makers of the IATF,” he added.
During a budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Abalos said he would support Cebu City being a pilot for the voluntary mask policy once the IATF signs off on it.
But League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) president South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said LGUs should follow the national government amid the state of public health emergency.
“Local governments have local autonomy, but when we are in a state of emergency at the national level,” he said in Filipino in a radio interview. “All local governments must follow the President’s direction or the national government’s instructions.”
The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said it was “not the proper time yet” to relax rules on mask wearing in the country, as severe and critical COVID-19 cases continued to increase.
DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said booster uptake among the eligible population remains low.
Vergeire also warned of waning immunity as seen in COVID-19 admissions of fully vaccinated individuals.
“We are not closing our doors to lifting this kind of mandate for masks but this is not the proper time yet because we don’t have that stable situation for COVID-19 cases and even deaths,” she told ANC’s “Dateline.”
Vergeire reminded local governments to prioritize public health. She stressed that wearing of masks lowers the chances of COVID-19 transmission and protects the most vulnerable, including the elderly.
“Our booster uptake is very low. Even in Cebu, the booster uptake is low. They only have 28 percent for the first booster dose,” she said. “So, we are advising and we are recommending that this [lifting of mask mandate] be thoroughly discussed and studied.”
While the DOH respects the autonomy of local governments, they are still mandated to follow protocols set by the national government, the agency said.
“The national government has issued IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) resolutions, which specifically state that the mask-wearing should still be continued,” Vergeire said.
On Wednesday, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said that while Malacanang has no reaction yet on the matter, “it may be taken under advisement although we do respect the mandates of local governments over their own jurisdictions.”
Cebu City’s EO 5 states that it is “high time” to simplify and declare such a policy, citing that the “lethal effect of the pandemic is already wearing off and that vaccination has been proven to be an effective means in containing the spread and the impact” of COVID-19.
“Most people remain uninformed as to the protection offered by the kind of face mask and the proper way of wearing the same, so long as they have complied with the mandatory wearing of face masks and even just for a show while it costs money and offers inconvenience,” the order reads.
“On the other hand, the long and mandatory wearing of a face mask has affected the person as a biopsychosocial and spiritual being.”
Vergeire, however, warned that implementing different protocols may increase the risk of COVID-19 infection and may hamper the country’s efforts to transition to an endemic phase of the pandemic.
As many schools are already implementing in-person learning, removing the use of face masks may also endanger the students’ safety, she added.
From Aug. 22 to 28, the country recorded 19,262 additional COVID-19 cases or an average of 2,752 daily infections.
A total of 807 or 10.5 percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were in severe and critical condition, according to the DOH.
Nearly 72.5 million people in the country have completed their primary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Some 17.8 million have received their booster dose.