Discussions are ongoing amid stronger calls to lift the mandatory wearing of face shields in the country. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Mayors can lift the mandatory use of face shields in public places even without seeking approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the government’s pandemic policy-making body, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told reporters on Monday.
“It’s up to them if they want to decide ahead of the IATF. As I said, that issue is not worth quarreling about,” Año said in Filipino.
“It’s not like before where we didn’t have vaccines yet and our cases were really high. We were really strict then,” he added.
According to Año, the mayors can impose their policies as long as they are reasonable.
“Anyway, the IATF guidelines can catch up [with such policies] later on,” he said.
“You know, there are issues that you need to fight to be sure [of keeping people safe]. But there are also issues that you’ll need to adjust to because we are living with the virus,” he added.
Año made his statement after Manila lifted the face shield requirement except in medical facilities on Monday morning.
READ: Manila City lifts face shield requirement except in medical facilities
However, in a press briefing earlier, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that executive orders had been issued declaring “null and void” the lifting of the face shield requirement in Manila and in Davao City.
READ: Palace says Manila LGU’s order to drop the face shield mandate ‘null and void’
READ: Davao City order on optional use of face shields also flagged ‘null, ‘void’
Roque explained that the lifting of the requirement was “in violation of an existing executive policy decreed by the president himself in the exercise of police powers” as the IATF had not decided on its policy on face shield use.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health also urged local governments earlier to put on hold their executive orders until the IATF could come up with a decision.
READ: Wait for IATF mandate on face shield before issuing ordinances, LGUs told
For Manila’s part, however, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has already released a statement in response, saying that the city would push through with the executive order.
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