Lacson, Benitez still for mandatory wearing of masks

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Both Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez said that they are still for the mandatory wearing of masks amid the pandemic and will not follow Cebu City where it is no longer mandatory since Sept 1, 2022.

Earlier, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama announced that he has issued Executive Order No. 5 which allowed the voluntary wearing of masks in outdoor places.

But the EO gave business establishments and building managers the discretion on the matter.

“We are already going towards freedom. We are rising up and moving forward,” Rama was quoted to have said in several reports.

But Lacson said he will not encourage a similar relaxation of the policy saying he is already used to wearing a mask.

“I am comfortable with it,” he added.

He also said that he would just wait for the decision of the National Inter-Agency Task Force on the matter.

Benitez said that Bacolod City is not yet ready to do away with masks as protection against the spread of COVID-19.

He noted that the cases are still going up.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer in charge of the Department of Health (DOH), opposed the lifting of mask mandates in the city, saying that one city should not make its own COVID-19 policies.