Senators back relaxing mask mandate to help spur economic activities

Session Hall at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City, Metro Manila on 23 March 2020. (Henzberg Austria/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Senators supported on Tuesday the easing of the face mask mandate.

Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, chairperson of the Senate committee on health, said that he welcomes any measure that will renormalize the public’s lives amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hangad nating lahat na bumalik sa normal ang ating buhay. Pero kahit gagawing boluntaryo na ang pagsusuot ng face masks, huwag pa rin tayong magkumpiyansa.

(We all want our lives to return to normal. But, even if we make wearing of face masks voluntary, let us not be complacent.)

“Tulad ng aking apela noon sa ating mga kababayan, kung hindi naman mahirap o sagabal para sa inyo na mag-mask, mag-mask pa rin po tayo dahil dagdag proteksyon ito sa atin laban sa sakit,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

(Like my appeal before to our countrymen, if wearing a mask is not difficult or a hurdle for you, wear a mask because it is an additional protection against diseases.)

Go also asked the public to protect their family members who are vulnerable to the disease.

Senator Grace Poe, meanwhile, noted that the move on easing rules on wearing face mask will help generate economic activities such as employment.

“We share the government’s goal to invigorate the economy to get off the slump from the pandemic’s lashing,” Poe said in a separate statement.

“Loosening the mask mandate and regulations on the entry of tourists will help generate economic activities, foremost among them is providing jobs to our people,” she added.

Poe acknowledged that the pandemic “has not quite left the scene” despite the World Health Organization’s pronouncement that the end of COVID-19 is in sight.

She encouraged the public to still adhere to minimum health protocols such as hand washing and good hygiene.

“We must build on the gains of the past in the fight against COVID-19 until we cross the finish line in this health crisis,” she said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III also favored the move.

“Agree naman po ako diyan (I agree with that). It’s time to learn to live with the virus,” he told reporters in a message.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to issue an order making the wearing of face masks indoors voluntary – even amid the local transmission of the “highly immune-evasive” XBB Omicron subvariant and XBC variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the respiratory severe illness COVID-19.

Also recently, independent analytics group Octa Research said that COVID-19 positivity rates in seven provinces of the country are at a “high level.”

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KGA/abc