The Philippine National Police (PNP) will continue to enforce the mandatory use of face mask in public places in Cebu despite the executive order issued by the provincial governor that gives local residents the option not to use it.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said police forces in Cebu were ordered to continue reminding the people in the province to continue facing face masks especially in public places amid the existing threat of Covid-19
The decision to defy the executive order issued by Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia was based on the order of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Eduardo Año to continue enforcing the order of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
"The DILG issued an instruction giving the PNP the mandate to implement the minimum public health standard so our Regional Director in Police Regional Office 7 understands that instruction that is why this will be implemented," said Fajardo.
She said that while the PNP understands the arguments raised by Garcia in lifting the mandatory use of face mask, Fajardo said there is an existing order coming from the national government that says otherwise.
This is the reason, according to her, why the PNP is now coordinating with the office of Garcia in order to settle the matter.
"So the least they (polices forces in Cebu) could do is really warn and remind our constituents there in Cebu that they still have to wear face mask because this is still being mandated by the national government," said Fajardo.
What they do not want to happen, according to Fajardo, is the conflicting rules would result in the confusion for the Cebuanos as to which order should be followed.
"We do not want that (the scenarios of the violators being rounded up) to happen. That is why there is a need to continue reminding the public that there is still an existing policy on the use of face mask," said Fajardo.
He stressed that the rules that would be issued by the local government units regarding the fight against Covid-19 must still conform with the rules coming from the national government through the IATF-MEID.