Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 9) — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Friday said the government may consider the wearing of face masks optional only if the situation is already safe.
“Pero hindi po natin gagawin ‘yan hanggang maliwanag na maliwanag na safe na talaga. Dahil although so far maganda naman ang takbo, hindi naman napupuno ang mga ospital. Ngunit kung hindi tayo maingat, mapupunta na naman tayo doon,” Marcos said in a virtual speech during a gathering of newly elected governors and mayors.
[Translation: But we will not implement it as long as it is not safe to do so. While the COVID-19 situation is relatively fine, with hospitals no longer struggling wih the influx of patients, if we will not be careful, we might experience that kind of situation again.]
The chief executive recently tested positive for COVID-19,
According to a press release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Marcos also encouraged local chief executives to support the national government’s COVID-19 booster program in line with the safe resumption of face-to-face classes and full reopening of the economy.
“Gawin natin itong booster rollout at makakatiyak tayo [na] wala nang lockdown at ayaw na ayaw na naming magkaroon ng lockdown. Kaya’t ito naman ang magiging pang-counter natin diyan sa pagkalat na naman nitong Omicron and its [sub]variants,” said Marcos.
[Translation: Let’s push for the booster rollout and we can assure there will be no lockdowns. We don’t want that to happen again. So this will be our move against the spread of Omicron and its subvariants.]
As of Saturday, data from the Department of Health showed the country logged an additional 1,712 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total case count to 3,714,770.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Board earlier passed an ordinance making face-mask wearing optional in open spaces, though it drew a backlash from the national government during the last days of the previous administration.
