MANILA, Philippines — The order in Manila City to drop the mandate on the use of face shields is “null and void” since the national policy still calls for its use, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the national government’s pandemic policy-making body, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), is still studying the use of face shields and have yet to decide whether to retain its mandatory policy or drop it.
With this, the required use of face shields still stands, he added, making the Manila City order to make its use non-mandatory “null and void” and thus, not enforceable.
“Null and void siya for being in violation of an existing executive policy decreed by the President himself in the exercise of police powers,” Roque said in a Palace briefing.
He reminded local government units, specifically mayors, that they are under the control and supervision of the President, thus must follow the chain of command.
He also urged the public to wait for the decision of the IATF on the mandatory use of face shields.
Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has issued Executive Order (EO) No. 42, which declares the use of face shields as “non-mandatory” in the nation’s capital city except in hospital settings and medical clinics, among other medical facilities.
Moreno noted that Metro Manila was already downgraded to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 since November 5, meaning it has low and decreasing COVID-19 case transmission, low healthcare utilization rate or low or decreasing case counts but total bed and intensive care utilization rates are increasing.
Moreno had proposed to ultimately drop the mandatory policy in the use of face shields, saying it is an additional financial burden for Filipinos yet it does not provide people full protection against COVID-19 citing scientific studies abroad.