Department of Health (DOH) Officer in Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday confirmed the DOH was not consulted by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on the issuance of an executive order (EO) lifting the mandatory wearing of face mask in the city.
The EO “declaring the use of face mask within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Cebu as non-obligatory but a measure of individual self-preservation and protection,” will take effect today, September 1,2022.
The wearing of face mask is also voluntary in schools, the EO stated. Face mask will only be mandatory in hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities, it added.
“We were never consulted in this matter,” Vergeire said during a news briefing.
However, Vergeire said that the matter is under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) since the agency is the one tasked to implement the policy of the national government across all local government units.
“And there is no exemption when it comes to the protocols and policies that we are implementing,” Vergeire, however, stressed.
She also emphasized, “a city within a country cannot act on its own, cannot be an island across all islands.”
“Hindi po pwede na isang lugar sa ating bansa na nagpapatupad ng kanilang protocol samantalang [It should not be allowed that one area is implementing their own protocol while] the rest of the country is implementing the other side of the protocol or magkaiba [they are different],” Vergeire stressed.
“We all know that we have porous borders. We know that people all over the country travel to and fro these different areas of the country and we know that Covid-19 crosses borders,” she said.
She also reminded that when the Covid-19 pandemic started, “We emphasized and highlighted that this should be a ‘one nation approach.’ This is the whole Philippines implementing safeguards for our population.”
As to the possibility of the removal of the facemask rule in the future, Vergeire assured that they will further study such move and that if there is already enough protection against Covid-19 through vaccination.
Image credits: DOH/Facebook