Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año Tuesday has strongly pushed for online Christmas carolling this year in lieu of the traditional face to face singing of Yuletide tunes as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
He noted that he is set to propose the ban of the normal method of carolling to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) with COVID-19 still lurking in the environment.
In an interview over ABS-CBN Teleradyo, Año noted that face to face carolling is still lawful until such time that the IATF issues its ban which is also highly recommended by the Metro Manila mayors.
“Kung magkakaroon ng caroling siguro online na lang, online caroling pero yung personal at saka face to face ay sa ngayon hindi pa muna nararapat dahil hindi pa natin nafaflatten ang curve (If there will be carolling maybe its should only be online. But personal and face to face carolling as of now is not advisable since we have not yet flattened the curve),’’ said Año.
Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander earlier echoed Año’s stand on the ban of face to face carolling.
Although carolling is a Filipino tradition during the Holiday Season, Eleazar noted that face to face carolling should be taken out of the equation due to the current health safety situation the country is facing.
“We are facing a serious threat of coronavirus disease and we in the JTF COVID Shield believe that it is in the health interest of everybody if we could just stay home and enjoy the Yuletide Season with our family,” Eleazar said.