Outgoing Senate President Vicente Sotto III and outgoing Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday, June 14 that the wearing of face masks outdoors and the placing parts of the country under alert level 2 must be based on science.
This was the same position espoused by Sotto and Lacson during the campaign period leading to the May 9 2022 polls. The Lacson-Sotto presidential and vice presidential tandem lost in that elections.
‘’Policies of either national or local governments must be science-based and data-driven. Who between the two governments have such basis? Then that one must prevail,’’ Sotto said.
‘’In a situation like this, it takes good and wise leadership to make hard and well-calculated decisions that will most likely result in winning more and losing less, if at all,’’ Lacson pointed out.
‘’Having said that, if I were the leader to make that choice, as I have done in the past and emphasized repeatedly during the presidential campaign, I would base it on science and be driven by accurate data provided by people with no personal agenda,’’ he emphasized.
‘’We have to trust that the next administration thinks along the same line," the defeated Palace aspirant said.
" Secretary Guevarra said that the IATF's (Inter-Agency Task Force) mandatory wearing of face masks policy will prevail over the Cebu provincial governor’s optional wearing of face masks,’’ he added.
The Cebu provincial government has butted heads with the Department of Health (DOH) for allowing the optional wearing of face masks outdoors.