DOTr’s Bautista favors continuous mask usage while in public transport

The leadership of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) expressed its support for the continuous usage of face masks while using public utility vehicles.

The transportation department shared Secretary Jaime Bautista’s stand in a press statement over the weekend days after the Inter-Agency Task Force- Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) recommended the optional wearing of face masks in the country.

The latest IATF-EID recommendation pertaining to face mask usage is for outdoors as well as non-crowded areas with good ventilation. However, seniors and immunocompromised individuals are encouraged to continue wearing masks.

In a statement sent to reporters, Bautista favors maintaining the face mask protocol in all public transport “because prevailing infection numbers show the virus has not been fully controlled and we should not let our guard down.”

Last week, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz Angeles clarified that the lifting of the face mask mandate has yet to become a policy.

She also said that the lifting of the face mask requirement will be piloted towards the last quarter of 2022 provided that there is an improvement on the COVID-19 booster vaccination coverage.

The DOTr position is similar to the suggestion of the Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge (OIC) Undersecretary Maria Rosario to keep on using face masks, especially those who are considered vulnerable to the disease.

The IATF-EID recommendation came after Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos (who previously served as chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) recommended to the former to make the wearing of face masks optional, citing that the country is one of the two members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that has yet to issue a new regulation pertaining to it. The other one is Myanmar.

Photos from Department Transportation-Philippines Facebook page, Ruben D. Manahan IV

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