INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año yesterday gave Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Cebu councilors until this weekend to amend their executive order (EO) and ordinance that made optional the wearing of face mask in well-ventilated and open spaces in the province.
If these officials fail to do so, Año — a key member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) — said the DILG will be compelled to file legal actions against them.
Año stressed that Garcia’s Executive Order No. 16 and the ordinance passed by the provincial council are not valid because they are contradictory to President Duterte’s Executive Order 151 and the face mask mandate set by the IATF.
“We will be giving the Cebu provincial government, the governor and the councilors (the chance) to amend, rectify, adjust their ordinance and EO to be consistent with the EO 151 and the guidelines in the implementation of the alert level system, which is part of EO 151,” said Año.
“Maybe over the weekend, we will give them a chance to rectify. After the weekend, (if they fail to do it) then we will do whatever is necessary,” he added.
He said he has been consulting with his legal team as to the actions that the DILG can take against Garcia and Cebu’s provincial council. “We will just do what is legal and what is commensurate to that particular kind of action of the Cebu provincial government,” he said.
“We will try all options here, and there is an instruction from the Office of the President that we should seek all remedies (to resolve the issue). If nothing will happen, we can also pursue legal action,” he added.
Año reiterated the national government does not recognize Garcia’s EO and the ordinance, adding “it’s beyond their (Cebu officials) powers to supersede, to counter, to contradict a national statute, including the EO of the President.”
Amid the disagreement between Año and Garcia, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Cebu Chapter passed a resolution supporting the executive order of the governor.
The resolution was adopted on Wednesday and signed by LMP Cebu chapter president Liloan, Cebu Mayor Ma. Esperanza Christina Frasco, who is the incoming secretary of the Department of Tourism.
In the resolution, the LMP-Cebu chapter gave its “full support” and adopted Garcia’s executive order “within the respective territorial jurisdictions of the mayor members of LMP
Cebu.”
Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco, president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), on the other hand, said the league has no official position on the issue.
Velasco said LPP members are due to meet today for a general assembly. “We will discuss in the meeting what will be our official position,” the official said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said DILG officials and Garcia should hold a dialogue so they can iron out their differences in relation to the face mask mandate controversy.
In a TV interview Wednesday night, Angara said: “I think, maybe there’s room for some dialogue between the parties here.”
Angara said Garcia has a point in making face masks optional since many countries have already lifted the wearing of the protective cover in open spaces.
“If you look all over the world, in Europe, in the US, and even here in our region, in Indonesia, they’ve lifted the wearing of masks outdoors. That is already optional. The same is also true in Singapore. In Thailand, the health minister is already recommending it to their policy —that is the equivalent of our IATF. So, it only has to be ratified by the prime minister. So, definitely, there is science which supports the optional wearing of masks outdoors,” Angara said in Filipino.
“Maybe the two parties should just talk. And maybe the DILG can say ‘Well, we won’t be so strict in enforcing it especially when there is little risk of contagion.’ Like, there’s just one person walking on an empty space, would you still arrest him? Maybe not anymore. Let common sense prevail,” he added.
He said if both parties insist on their positions, “that may lead to litigation or it might even reach the court.” — With Raymond Africa
