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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Political, business interests over health?': Lifting of mandatory use of mask outdoors slammed anew

'Political, business interests over health?': Lifting of mandatory use of mask outdoors slammed anew

Published Sep 18, 2022 05:15 pm

A health reform advocate slammed the “premature” lifting of the mandatory wearing of masks outdoors days after Malacañang issued Executive Order (EO) No. 3, allowing the public to voluntarily wear masks in non-crowded and open spaces.

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Leachon, on Sunday, Sept. 18, criticized the national government’s decision to loosen the country's health restrictions amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

(Manila Bulletin File Po

“Hindi siya timely at premature ang paglabas ng EO na ‘yan. Ang problema nito ay nanaig ang political and business interests dito over health. Kung titignan ang datos natin ay hindi based sa science (The release of that EO was untimely and premature. The problem with this is that political and business interests have prevailed over health. If we look at our data, the decision is clearly not based on science),” said Leachon in an interview over DZRH.

Citing the recent data released by independent OCTA Research group, Leachon stressed that the country’s Covid-19 infection rate is still progressing.

The Philippines logs an average of 2,000 to about 2,500 cases per day. As of Friday, Sept. 16, the nationwide positivity rate was at 13.3 percent beyond the recommended 5 percent benchmark set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

With these, the expert said that the EO is a counterintuitive measure that boldly negates the country’s efforts in strengthening its guard against the infectious disease.

When he was asked to expound his “political and business interests over health” statement, he simply said that the Philippine healthcare system appears to be unimportant to the administration.

“Hanggang ngayon ay wala pa tayong Secretary of Health. Bakit ang pagnanasa ng mga business sector ang pinakinggan samantalang klaro sa ating mata na hindi pa tayo out of danger? (Until now we do not have a Secretary of Health. Why did we listen to the desire of the business sector when it is clear to us that we are not out of danger yet?)” Leachon reiterated.

“If we really want to protect the people, we need to stick with minimum public health standards ,” he added.

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