‘WELL, IT’S NOTED’: Mayor stands by city face mask edict amid DILG-6 suggestion to junk it

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

“Well, it’s noted.”

This was the curt reaction of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to the suggestion of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-6 to scuttle its ordinance requiring residents to wear face masks when in public amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

On Wednesday, the DILG-6’s Legal Officer Atty. Cedric Jaranilla told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo that the ordinance was “not in conformity” with the provisions of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11332 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act).

This was still in light of the directive by President Rodrigo Duterte last week that persons found improperly wearing face masks should be arrested and detained.

Jaranilla said the penalty in both the city ordinance and the national law would constitute “double jeopardy”, or punishing the offender for the same offense twice, which is prohibited by Section 21, Article III of the 1987 Constitution.

Rule XI, Sec. 1(f)(iii) of the revised IRR of RA 11332 lists “Failure to abide by minimum public health standards and/or non-pharmaceutical interventions as enforced by public health authorities” as one of its prohibited acts.

Rule X, Sec. 4(b)(i) mandates municipal or city health offices to implement pandemic control measures.

Rule XI, Sec. 3 of the same IRR provides the penalty for the prohibited acts by a fine ranging from P20,000.00 to P50,000.00, or imprisonment from 1 to 6 months, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the proper court.

Iloilo City’s Regulation Ordinance (R.O.) No. 2020-061, as amended, provides only fines or community service, or both, depending on the frequency of the offense:

* First offense – P1,000 fine or 8-hour community service a day for 3 successive days;

* Second offense – P2,000 fine or 8-hour community service a day for 5 successive days; and

* Third and succeeding offenses – P5,000 fine or 8-hour community service a day for 5 successive days.

“The highest penalties of the city ordinance cannot reach the highest penalty of R.A. 11332, so in that there is no need to amend because that is the limit which the law provides, so they can either revoke it because there is a national law covering the subject matter, or it would ultimately depend on the [local government unit],” Jaranilla said.

He added that local government units (LGU) cannot impose community service as sanctions but did not cite which specific provision under R.A. No. 7160 (Local Government Code of 1991) mandates such prohibition.

“They cannot impose in excess of what the Local Government Code provides. In fact, there are suggestions where community service can replace imprisonment. The opinion of the DILG is, however, that community service is not among those sanctions allowed to be imposed by the LGU. What is limited to the LGU to impose in ordinances with penal sanctions is limited to fines and imprisonment. Community service is not allowed by the code,” he added.

Councilor Ely Estante, the author of R.O. No. 2020-061, as amended, said that he viewed the IRR of R.A. 11332 as “too general”, stating that he intentionally wrote the ordinance to not indicate non-wearing of face masks as a criminal offense.

Estante also announced that he would be providing amendments to the said ordinance, focusing on the exemptions where people can take off their face masks while in public.

“I saw here that the non-cooperation of the victim and the rules during a pandemic, it’s too general and it does not even include face masks for arrest and with a fine this big. With the ordinance I made, which does not include imprisonment as penalty, we did not want to make non-wearing of face masks as a criminal offense. If we did, then a person would have a record with the courts and the [National Bureau of Investigation], then one wouldn’t be able to get records so easily for job applications and other purposes,” Estante told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo.

In a phone interview, Mayor Treñas told Daily Guardian that the DILG-6 did not have any authority to mandate the city council on ordinances, but added that if they wanted to arrest and detain violators, then he wouldn’t stop them.

He added further that he did not believe that face mask violators should be arrested and imprisoned, given the economic situation of the residents, suggesting instead to give face masks and face shields to those who do not have them.

“The DILG has its own functions and the city council is a legislative body, they do not just dictate on the legislative body of the city. My position here is that if they want to arrest and detain, then they do that. I am not going to stop the national police. For us, we just do supervision. So if they really want to do that, then they can. But I will not have a hand on that, because I do not believe that we need to arrest the poor people who have been dealing with quarantine for more than a year,” said the mayor.

 

NEW RESTRICTIONS

Treñas also issued Executive Order (EO) No. 39-A, series of 2021 on Wednesday, in response to an alarming growth of cases in Iloilo City.

The City Health Office-City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CHO-CESU) confirmed 36 new COVID-19 cases as of May 11, composed of 29 local transmissions and 7 index cases.

CHO-CESU data as of May 12 also indicated that the city has had 309 new COVID-19 cases only in May, at an average of 28 new cases per day, as well as 43 COVID-19 deaths in this year alone.

The mayor previously attributed the rise in cases to public gatherings, particularly wakes and funeral services.

The new EO reiterated the prohibition on mass gatherings, limiting weddings, baptisms, and religious gatherings to 30 percent venue or seating capacity.

Wakes, funerals, and burial services are also only limited to 15 people visiting in one time, and shall only consist of relatives up to the 3rd civil degree, with a maximum of 3 days for wakes and funeral services.

But burials may also expand their capacity, provided that attendants remain to be relatives up to the 3rd civil degree, and that minimum public health standards will still be observed.

Dine-in capacity in food establishments have also been decreased to 30 percent, and public indoor and outdoor swimming facilities, including swimming areas in hotels and condominium buildings, are also prohibited until the EO’s expiry.

Both public and private offices have been enjoined to reduce physical workforce at 30 percent, and Iloilo City Government offices have also been mandated to adopt alternative work arrangements.

The EO is effective initially for one week, running until 11:59 p.m. of May 19.