The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7 said it is prepared to comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to implement the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ (IATF-EID) testing and quarantine protocols in Cebu.
“We will be of course following the orders of the President, and that would be the order of the day,” DOH-7 Dir. Jaime Bernadas said.
On June 21, a group of lawyers in Cebu filed a petition questioning the government’s policy on the quarantine and testing for returning overseas Filipinos.
However, President Duterte informed the courts in his June 21 briefing that he “will not follow them” amid the prevailing national health emergency.
“I will insist on what is necessary to protect the people. I do not want anybody from any government agency or department messing up with a situation because it is very dangerous,” he said.
The Chief Executive said he will let the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) decide regarding the move of Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra welcomed in a statement the case filed by Cebu lawyers, saying that “it provides a judicial forum for the settlement of an important legal issue that may crop up again in the future.”
“The OSG will handle the case for the government. But let me say now that IATF resolutions acquire legally binding force because they are adopted by the President through an enabling executive order,” Guevarra said.
“The IATF is a creation of the president; it is therefore a qualified political agency of the president. Therefore, all local government officials, who are constitutionally under the supervision of the president, must align their policies, resolutions, and ordinances in accordance with the directives of the chief executive. Otherwise, there will be chaos and disorder in our society,” he added.
Cebu has implemented a swab upon arrival policy for returning overseas Filipinos with a two to three-day hotel quarantine period. This is contrary to IATF policy to test on the seventh day upon arrival with a 10-day facility-based quarantine. – Report from John Aroa/AG-rir
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