ILOILO City – Following the approval of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of the voluntary wearing of facemask outdoors, local government units in Western Visayas started working on the amendments or suspension of their local facemask policies.
In Iloilo City, Councilor Ely Estante who authored the city’s facemask ordinance said he will move to suspend Regulatory Ordinance No. 2020-061 or the Face Mask Ordinance in today’s regular session.
“We will just suspend the facemask ordinance, not amend, so that we can lift it anytime if ever we go back to the policy relative to the mandatory wearing of facemask,” said Estante.
He said that after the suspension of the ordinance, Mayor Jerry Treñas will issue an executive order (EO) for the optional wearing of facemasks in outdoor settings.
The city mayor earlier expressed support to the pronouncement of the Inter-Agency Task Force to make wearing of facemask voluntary in open spaces or outdoors.
He also said the city government will not apprehend those who will not wear facemask outdoor even if the ordinance is not yet amended.
In Iloilo province, the optional wearing of facemask was implemented last week yet after Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. issued EO No. 260-G following the pronouncement of the IATF and even without the formal approval yet of the President.
When indoors, however, and when in public transport by land, air or sea, wearing of facemask remains mandatory, Defensor stressed, except for the following instances:
* when eating and drinking
* when participating in team and individual sports in venues where ventilation standards can be maintained
* when practicing outdoor sports/exercise activities where physical distance can be maintained.
Likewise, the province of Negros Occidental is already implementing the optional wearing of facemasks in outdoor spaces.
EO No. 22-45 series of 2022 issued by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Sept. 11 established the guidelines on the wearing of facemasks within the territorial jurisdiction of the province.
The use of facemasks would still be required in indoor spaces such as shopping malls, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities, the EO stressed.
Meanwhile, in Guimaras, the wearing of facemask will also be voluntary soon.
According to Vice Gov. John Edward Gando, they already have initial talks with Gov. Rahman Nava about the amendment of facemask ordinance of the province.
“In our discussion…this (Monday) evening, a decision was reached to propose amendments to Provincial Ordinance No. 2020-04 to make wearing of facemask in open spaces voluntary,” Gando told Panay News.
For the province of Antique, Gov. Rhodora Cadiao issued yesterday an EO adopting Marcos’ EO which allows voluntary wearing of facemasks in open spaces and non-crowded outdoor areas in the province.
She, however, added that senior citizens, immunocompromised and individuals who are not yet fully vaccinated should continue wearing facemasks.
According to her, the province is still under coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Alert Level 2 due to low coverage in vaccination.
On the other hand, despite the loosened policy on facemask use, local chief executives in the region still appealed to the public to continue to protect themselves against COVID-19 because the pandemic is not yet over.
In Iloilo province, Defensor said their focus now is to further increase the COVID-19 vaccination coverage especially the booster shots.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles announced on Monday’s press briefing that President Marcos signed EO No. 3 allowing the voluntary use of facemask in outdoor settings.
“Ito na po ‘yung ina-announce ng DOH na voluntary wearing of facemasks outdoors, in non-crowded places, provided…kung kayo ay immunocompromised, seniors or hindi kumpleto ang bakuna, kailangan pa rin po mag-facemask or strongly encouraged ang facemasks,” Cruz-Angeles said./PN
