Malacanang’s directive to officially lift the mandatory use of face masks even indoors “accelerates the country’s adaptation to the ‘new normal’ and sends a loud message” to the world that it has “opened wide its doors” to tourists and investors.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party, made this observation as he also appealed to local executives to fully support Executive Order No. 7 by ramping up their anti-coronavirus vaccination rollouts and complying with the President’s order by submitting to the Department of Health (DOH) regular updates on the progress of their respective regular and booster shot programs.
“With President Marcos’ prompt issuance of EO No. 7, we are sending a loud message to the world that we have marched on from the almost three-year pandemic and that we have at last opened wide our doors to tourists and investors alike as a way to speed up our economy’s return to its pre-COVID high upward trajectory,” Villafuerte said.
The President’s issued last Oct. 28 Executive Order (EO) 7 making mask wearing optional in both indoor and outdoor settings, just days after he approved the recommendation by the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on mandatory masking that had been enforced nationwide since March 2020. Maricel V. Cruz
