MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is reviewing its controversial face shield policy, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
"I can confirm that while the number [of new cases] is decreasing, we are also talking about whether to continue wearing face shields," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in Filipino during his regular press briefing. "But there is still no decision so we will continue wearing face shields for now."
Related Stories
President Rodrigo Duterte in September eased the face shield requirement, limiting its mandatory use to areas that fall under the 3Cs: crowded, closed and close contact with others.
Many have questioned the pandemic task force's requirement to wear face shields on top of face masks despite a seeming lack of scientific basis for the policy.
But physician Edsel Salvaña, an adviser to the IATF, at the same briefing maintained the value of face shields, saying in Filipino that they "are not just additional [protection] for masking."
"What is important there is the eye protection," he said. "Aside from the double layer of protection, the eye protection is also kind of important."
Salvaña said that while he agrees that easing the face shield policy can be discussed now that the number of new infections is decreasing, the requirement should only be lifted for indoor spaces "once everyone is vaccinated."
"We will continue to study this," Salvaña assured. Roque chimed in to say that a technical working group was already looking into the matter.
Face shields spotlighted in Senate probe on pandemic spending
The government's procurement of face shields has largely figured in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's ongoing probe on reported deficiencies in pandemic spending.
The controversial Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., the Department of Budget and Management's most favored pandemic supplier, sold face shields to the DBM-Procurement Service for as high as P179 per piece.
READ: ‘Red flag’: Pharmally sold medical supplies to DOTr at higher prices than own catalog | Former DBM exec: 'No explanation’ for buying face masks for P27, shields for P120
One of the firm's officers, Krizle Grace Mago, also confirmed a Senate witness' testimony that the firm tampered with the expiry dates of medical-grace face shields. The witness, a Pharmally warehouseman, also claimed that many of the face shields were "substandard" but still sold to the government.
Mago has since disavowed this testimony, calling her admission a "pressured response," but senators have said that her testimony to them under oath still carries more weight than her subsequent denial. — Bella Perez-Rubio