Malacañang announced on Wednesday that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has recommended the lifting of the mandatory wearing of face masks when outdoors.

Press Secretary Trixie Cruz Angeles, in a press briefing conducted via videoconferencing from Singapore, said the IATF issued the resolution last Monday, September 5. She added that President Marcos would soon issue an executive order (EO) approving the new policy and other guidelines that the task force has proposed.

Angeles said that through this recommendation, the IATF aims to liberalize mask mandate and make mask-wearing outdoors voluntary across the country. “It becomes optional in open spaces or non crowded outdoor areas with good ventilation, provided that senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals are highly encouraged to wear their masks, to continue wearing masks.”

The Press Secretary, who was joined by Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire and Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos from Malacañang, added that the total lifting of the mask mandate would be pilot-tested toward the end of the year, provided there is an improvement in the COVID-19 booster vaccine coverage.

Vergeire clarified that the partial lifting of the mask mandate was not yet government policy and that the EO to be issued would serve as the legal instrument or the approval for the implementation of the policy.

According to Abalos, the IATF recommendation arose after he referred to the body the Cebu City government’s new policy making optional the wearing of masks in public places. He added that the Philippines and Myanmar are the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states that have not yet completely or partly lifted the mask mandate.