This is what Police Lieutenant Colonel Franco Rudolf Oriol, MCPO deputy city director for operations and spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
“Our mayor did not issue an executive order regarding eliminating the face mask requirement. So we in MCPO will follow the usual guidelines of the IATF,” said Oriol, citing the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ resolution on the mandatory wearing of masks in public places.
He said that as the city has remained at the most relaxed alert level for quite a while, they observed that some people were already going out without face masks.
However, these people often easily listened when told to wear them, and most Mandauehanons were fully aware of the health protocols and guidelines, he added.
Oriol also said they do not instill fear in the violators but just remind them to wear their masks for their own protection. Such is observed in MCPO’s “Oplan Pahimangno” and “Oplan Sita” campaigns.
Last June 10, John Eddu Ibañez, executive secretary of Mayor Jonas Cortes, told reporters that Mandaue City would still follow its Ordinance 15-2020-1531 amid the controversy over Executive Order (EO) 16 issued by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on the optional wearing of masks in open and well-ventilated areas.
Ibañez said the ordinance would only be amended by the city’s Sangguniang Panlungsod.
Mandaue City Councilor Joel Seno, however, said last Monday, June 13, that they do not intend to amend the ordinance unless the city’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation has stabilized.
Under the ordinance, people are required to wear their face masks properly at all times in public places. Anyone caught violating the ordinance will be fined P5,000.
Mandaue City will be under Alert level 1 from June 16 to 30.
Last June 16, the city had zero new Covid-19 cases and only eight active cases.
Issued last June 8, Garcia’s EO 16 covers 44 towns and six component cities in Cebu Province. It does not cover the highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu on Cebu Island.