Local government units should follow the instructions of the national government’s COVID-19 pandemic response task force in enforcing the use of face shields, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) said Wednesday.
LPP president and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has the power to direct protocols.
“Kailangan po tayong sumunod dyan. Ang IATF ang may power na mag-prescribe ng mga ganyang protocol,” he said in an interview on Dobol B TV.
(We need to follow [the IATF]. It has the power to prescribe protocols.)
With the pandemic, Velasco said the Department of Health, a part of the IATF, can assume the role in providing solutions to the health emergency.
On Monday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Benhur Abalos said Metro Manila mayors passed a resolution to make the wearing of face shields optional except in critical areas.
In Manila, Mayor Isko Moreno issued an executive order making face shield use non-mandatory in the city, which is immediately effective.
Also in Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued a directive that wearing of face shields in the city will be voluntary under certain conditions, or the so-called 3Cs.
The Palace warned mayors against defying the mandatory face shield policy for crowded and enclosed spaces, saying the policy remained in effect.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque issued the reminder after the cities of Davao, Manila, Iloilo, among others, scrapped the policy outside of a hospital setting.
On Tuesday, the DOH said LGUs will submit an appeal or a recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force on the policy by Thursday. — RSJ, GMA News
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