Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama will lift the requirement to wear face shields inside establishments such as malls and traditional public utility jeepneys (TPUJ) and will now only require the wearing of face shields only in crowded and enclosed areas. Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia signed the new policy via Executive Order No. 43, On Friday, November 5. This means people can roam outdoor without wearing face shields. The public though must still wear face masks.
Rama is scheduled to issue a directive on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, to allow people to enter establishments even without a face shield but it would still be mandatory to wear a face mask. “For air-conditioned transportation, the face shield requirement stays, but the malls won’t need that anymore because these are not crowded places. The places that require face shields are hospitals, laboratories and other crowded places,” Rama said. The decision was made during a meeting convened by Rama of the various sectors of the community that included officials from the Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.
The executive order stated: “…face shields shall only be required in the 3C’s setting, namely (1) crowded places with many people nearby, (2) close contact settings especially where people have close-range conversations; and (3) confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.” The new policy follows the IATF’s announcement that they may consider dropping face shield mandates altogether.
Rama’s decision came after Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of The Interior and Local Government revealed that in accordance with Section 16 of the Local Government Code of 1991, local chief executives can make ordinances or executive orders for the benefit of the people.
Año’s statement contradicted Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr.’s statement that Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso’s order Monday to drop the use of the face shield except in hospitals and other medical settings could be “null and void” because the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the management of emerging infectious diseases had yet to decide on dropping the mandatory use of the face shields.
