The Department of Health (DOH) was not consulted by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on the issuance of an executive order (EO) lifting the mandatory wearing of face masks in the city.
This was confirmed by DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a media briefing on Wednesday, shortly after the announcement of the EO in Cebu City.
The order indicated that wearing a face mask is not required in outdoor and open spaces “subject to the discretion of the Mayor in exceptional circumstances.”
“We were never consulted on this matter, regarding this removal of face masks outdoors and this executive order that they are going to issue,” Vergeire said, referring to Rama’s directive.
"As I say, a city within a country cannot act on its own. It cannot be an island across all islands," she added.
According to the DOH official, the matter is under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) since the agency is the one tasked to implement the policy of the national government across all local government units.
"If we are preventing the infections in most of the areas in the country, and one area in the country will not have that kind of safeguard, and therefore the possibility or the risk of infections will be higher in this area because the safeguards are not there," she said.
Vergeire said they are still studying the possibility of removing the mandatory use of face masks in the future.
Last June, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia issued an executive order lifting the requirement of wearing face masks outdoors. However, this was not recognized by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
In the end, the two decided to settle their differences concerning the optional wearing of face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
