Tarlac imposes stiff penalties on those not wearing face masks in public places

 

PAMPANGA, Philippines – In the province of Tarlac, residents caught not wearing face masks outside their homes may be fined up to P50,000 or imprisoned for 6 months.

These are the penalties under Executive Order No. 11 signed by Tarlac Governor Susan Yap, which ordered the mandatory use of face masks in public in the entire province. 

Yap’s executive order was posted in the provincial government’s Facebook page early evening on Friday, April 3.

She issued the EO after Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced the new policy of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) requiring Luzon residents to wear face masks while outside their homes.

Nograles directed local government units to issue corresponding executive orders or ordinances on the mandatory use of face masks or other improvised face cover “and impose such penalties as may be appropriate.”

Section 3 of Yap’s EO states that persons who violate the order may be arrested and charged under Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”

The EO provides that Section 9 of RA 11332 “penalizes non-cooperation of persons and entities that should report and/or respond to notifiable diseases and health events of public concern in relation to Section 10 of the same Act on Penalties” of P20,000 to P50,000 fine or 1 month to 6 months imprisonment or both at the court’s discretion.

(READ: DOJ: Police can arrest violators of Luzon lockdown even if they do not resist)

It says that non-compliance with the EO also violates Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code, which states that resistance and disobedience to authorities is punishable by a fine of P10 to P500 and 1 day to 6 months imprisonment.

Yap’s EO allows the use of “earloop masks, indigenous, reusable or do-it-yourself masks, face shields, handkerchiefs, or such other protective equipment that can effectively lessen the transmission of COVID-19.”

None of the netizens who reacted to the provincial government’s Facebook post on the EO complained about the imposition.

But when the provincial government posted on the same day the efficiency of different types of face masks against coronavirus transmission, netizens expressed disappointment that these face masks were unavailable in stores.

The “Mask Protection Efficiency” posted by the provincial government shows that only N95, surgical masks, and FFP1 masks have 95 percent protection against viruses.

Activated carbon mask offers only 10 percent protection against viruses while cloth and sponge masks offer no virus protection at all.

“If only we could buy the N95 mask and surgical mask in the drugstore nowadays we won’t use cloth mask,” one said.

“We appreciate that you’re posting this. If only we could get ahold of those top 3 masks,” another netizen added.

“There’s no available N95 or surgical mask in the drugstores so we don’t have [a] choice but to wear cloth mask,” a netizen wrote. 

Others said that since what most people use are cloth masks, it would be better to just stay home, unless there is a real need to go out. – Rappler.com