Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III has issued an executive order exempting bikers from the mandatory use of face shields while they are in the municipality.
Ponce issued Executive Order No. 1 on Jan. 4 exempting bikers from the use of face shields after the Municipal Council of Pateros passed Ordinance 2020-25 on the mandatory use of face shields while in public places as “protection against the Coronavirus disease.”
The ordinance was prompted by the study and recommendation from the health services and Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
The mayor said, “With the suspension of mass transportation as part of precaution under different Quarantine Classifications the use of bicycle has become prevalent as an alternative mode of transportation in going to work and in doing errands.”
“However, recent experience and study prove that the use of face shield in addition to the use of face mask on bikers while they are in transit compromises and even put their health to risk as their ability to freely breathe is constricted,” he said.
He noted that several local government units in Metro Manila “have passed and approved their respective ordinances exempting bikers from the mandatory use of face shield while in transit.”
“Effective immediately, bikers while in transit and inside the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Pateros shall be exempted from the mandatory use of face shield and from the operation of Municipal Ordinance #2020-25 in so far as the mandatory use of face shield is concerned,” Ponce said in his order.