Benjamin Abalos Jr., Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), stated on that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is carefully reviewing ideas to ease the country’s mandate on wearing masks outdoors.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Abalos emphasized the need to carefully weighing options as the country battles the coronavirus outbreak.
Abalos said the IATF could make a judgment on the topic by the end of the week, but he declined to elaborate on what happened during their discussion.
“Well number one, as previously agreed with the IATF, kay Pangulong Digong (Rodrigo Duterte) hanggang ngayon, everything would be kept a secret until the final result,” Abalos said.
The DILG head stated that what is being addressed is the “mask mandate outdoors,” and that the face mask regulation for indoors will remain.
“There are points of view saying we (the Philippines) and Myanmar are the only countries in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) that have a mask mandate, the others have already lifted theirs. Of course, there are those mentioning things like vaccination, booster shots, and other factors. So we have to weigh everything as that is what we are discussing,” said Abalos.
