Mandatory use stays in hospitals, other critical areas
BY NOEL TALACAY and ASHZEL HACHERO
MAYORS of the 17 local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR) have agreed to discontinue the mandatory use of face shields in public places, except in critical areas such as hospitals, Benhur Abalos Jr. of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced yesterday.
Abalos said the Metro Manila Council will ask the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to already lift the government’s face shield use policy which has been in place since December last year.
In September this year, President Duterte ordered the lifting of the face shield use except for 4Cs, which stand for closed, crowded, and close contact areas.
“We will recommend the scrapping of (the) mandatory wearing of face shields to the IATF-EID especially since the majority of the eligible population in Metro Manila are already fully vaccinated and the average daily attack rate as well as the number of COVID-19 cases are going down,” Abalos said.
Once given the green light, Abalos said face shields will no longer be required in malls, which have been allowed to extend their operating hours when Metro Manila was placed under Alert Level 2 beginning November 5.
Abalos said the use of face shields will still be required in critical areas such as hospitals, health centers and public utility vehicles.
On cue, Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno yesterday issued Executive Order No. 42 making the wearing of face shield in the city non-mandatory, except in hospitals, medical clinics and other medical facilities.
In signing the executive order, Moreno cited reports that quoted Interior Secretary Eduardo Año as saying that many members of the IATF are in favor of revoking the face shield policy.
Moreno also cited the lowering of the alert level status in the NCR as the COVID-19 situation in the region continues to improve.
“Your pleas, letters and messages asking me to study the continued use of face shield has been heard,” Moreno, a presidential aspirant in the 2022 general elections, said in Filipino after signing the order.
Moreno said he has already instructed the Manila Barangay Bureau, the Bureau of Permit and Licenses Office, Manila City Health Office and the directors of hospitals in the city to disseminate the information and implement his order.
“The order shall take effect immediately,” he added.
Moreno had repeatedly asked the IATF to drop the face shield policy, arguing that it was an added expense to the public amid the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abalos said the IATF and President Duterte have the final say on the issue.
Año said he is not against the lifting of the face shield requirement if this is implemented in low-risk areas or if the LGUs have high vaccination rates.
“It’s up to them if they want to preempt the IATF,” said Año, referring to the LGUs as he noted that the government’s pandemic task force is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the matter.
“But for the meantime, I will not be strict on that. It’s no longer an issue that requires you to fight for it with your life because you’ve seen that it (Metro Manila) is already low-risk and second, it is true that we’re the only country in the world that is still using face shields,” Año added.
He recalled that the government had ordered the strict use of face shields in Metro Manila amid the high cases in the region and when the country still lacked anti-COVID vaccines.
“But the situation has already changed. Metro Manila is now under Alert Level 2, meaning to say Metro Manila is low risk … If you have a high a high vaccination rate like Metro Manila which is 87 percent, its nearing 90 percent, you have a leeway (to relax policy on use of face shield),” he said.
Vaccine czar and National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said many of the IATF members favor making the wearing of face shields voluntary and limiting its mandatory use in certain areas such as hospitals.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III welcomed the recommendation of Metro Manila mayors to scrap the mandatory use of face shield, saying doing away with the use of face shields in public places is long overdue.
“I have long been saying that face shields are useless. No one was listening. I even accosted DOH [Department of Health], remember?” Sotto said in a message to the media.
Sotto has earlier said it was possible that certain people or companies might be earning huge profits for pushing the continued use of face shields.
The use of face shields has been the subject of investigation by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee since Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation sold them to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management at a high price when face shields could have been bought at much lower prices elsewhere.
PLEASE HOLD
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire urged LGUs to temporarily withhold the issuance of local ordinances lifting the mandatory use of face shields as she asked Metro mayors to wait for the IATF decision.
“We urge the local governments to hold their executive orders or their issuances so we can all be uniform in the implementation (of the policy) and we are all aligned,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire said the DOH is ready to submit to the IATF its updated recommendation on the issue during their meeting on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque reminded the public that the mandatory use of face shield in select areas remains in effect and everyone is still required to comply with the health protocol.
Roque said that in the absence of any directive or decision from the IATF or President Duterte, executive orders issued by LGUs revoking the face shield use policy are considered null and void.
“My appeal to all local government units and all mayors is for them to understand that all mayors are under the control and supervision of the President, as part of the Executive branch of government, and that the decision of the IATF is also the decision of the President,” Roque said.
Roque said Moreno’s EO lifting the mandatory use of face shields in the city cannot take effect yet because “it is null and void for being in violation of an existing executive policy decreed by the President itself in the exercise of his police powers.”
He said Malacañang will leave it to the DILG on how to deal with Moreno if he insists on implementing his order.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the wearing of face shields will remain until the policy is revoked either by Malacañang, the DOH or the IATF.
“Until that resolution is revoked by the IATF, by the DOH, or by the President, the requirement to wear face shield in 3C areas stands. Local government units should take the cue from these national government agencies or directly from the President,” Guevarra said. — With Gerard Naval, Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor
