Local leaders send mixed reactions to voluntary indoor mask proposal

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Top local chief executives in the city and province of Iloilo on Tuesday gave differing reactions to an upcoming national government policy to make the wearing of face masks voluntary in indoor venues nationwide.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas told Daily Guardian via text message that he fully supported the policy, despite a current rising trend in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as reflected by the city government’s own data.

Data from the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU) as of Tuesday indicated that the city logged 30 new cases on Monday, October 24, which follows a string of double-digit cases starting on the last week of September.

Despite this trend, Treñas based his support on the practice of other countries relaxing their own mask mandates and reiterated what he had said in relaxing other COVID restrictions in the last few months, that it was “time to open up the economy.”

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on the other hand, declined to comment, stating that he would rather wait for the full text of the policy, but hinted that he may follow the national government’s pronouncement once it is officially issued.

In the meantime, Defensor said that his Executive Order No. 260, as amended, would remain in force, including provisions on mandatory wearing of face masks indoors and the optional wearing outdoors except where physical distancing cannot be observed.

Iloilo province has also seen a recent uptick in cases, reporting 317 new cases between Oct 17 to 23, with 545 active cases as of 12 p.m. of Oct 24 across 42 local government units.

Bingawan town is the only area in the province which currently does not have COVID cases as of Oct 24.

Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco on Tuesday announced the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to issue an executive order to make face masks voluntary indoors.

This was amid a rise of COVID cases across the country and amid the emergence of two new foreign variants (XBB and XBC).

She said that the general direction of the Marcos Jr. administration was to lift the remainder of COVID travel restrictions, for the Philippines to be at par with its Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors.