By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Since the start of June this year, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno has been calling on the national government to scrap its policy for the mandatory use of face shields when in public.
Back then, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) maintained that wearing full-face shields over facemasks was necessary to “effectively lessen the transmission of COVID-19.”
Even infectious diseases specialist Dr. Edsel Salvaña was on board with the Department of Health (DOH) in requiring the use of face shields to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, saying it “is grounded on solid science.” He called it the “Swiss Cheese” model of protection which meant that with the multi-layered face shield, face mask, physical distance, and good ventilation formula, reducing risk was increased from 78 percent to 90 percent.
At that time, the Manila mayor was arguing his case on the premise that many countries faring better against the pandemic need not require face shields. But also, there was a public outcry among his constituents over the strict enforcement that had many of them accosted by police.
Moreno, for one, understood that the capital city was not home only to the rich; and for many whose livelihoods were on the streets, face shields were an added cost. With the hospitals in crisis, too, the well-meaning mayor suggested that instead of government spending on face shields, funds could be diverted to better healthcare expenses as medicines and emergency facilities.
This suggestion did not come from an ogler by his 14th-floor condominium window but a strong-willed mayor who built the Manila COVID-19 Field Hospital in Rizal Park in just two months last April. This was a leader who knew what he was talking about.
But as August came, he fell ill to COVID-19 and, for some, I guess, that weakened his position from dictating what’s necessary protection and what’s not. Still, his credibility is notched up Harry Roque. The presidential spokesperson himself fell prey to the disease in spite of being firmly behind the face shield policy yet dropping them during his infamous RNRs in Subic Bay and Baguio at the height of the lockdowns.
Fast forward to today, and Mayor Isko is one formidable presidential aspirant who is backing his argument with World Health Organization data that face shields are not only an unnecessary burden on the commuting public but also a plague and source of corruption for our government purchasing arms as evidenced by the ongoing Senate inquiry into billions worth of overpriced COVID-19 supplies that included face shields.
But the DOH is not giving up this debate, even introducing goggles in the place of discomforting full-face shields, insisting this time that eye protection against the transmission of COVID-19 should not be abandoned. Well, it’s another merchandise on the bidding block and perhaps just another source of corruption, as pointed out by Moreno.
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