(File photo) MANILA - Cebu City's ordinance on the optional use of face masks may be a ground for graft under Executive Order (EO) 151 that sets the nationwide alert level system. Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Ano is still hoping that a "remedy" will be made by the Cebu provincial government, which he gave until the weekend to rectify its EO 16 issued by Governor Gwen Garcia on June 8. During a press conference at the "Back-to-Vax Champion" Covid-19 vaccination ramp-up event at a mall in Quezon City on Friday, Ano noted that Cebu's order also contradicts EOs 168 and 1218 and Republic Act (RA) 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act. EO 1218 is a declaration of state of calamity; EO 168 adopts measures to strengthen the Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Program of the Department of Health (DOH) or its equivalent in other local health unit
VAX TALKS. Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. (left) delivers his message at a mall vaccination site in Taytay, Rizal on Monday (Dec. 20, 2021). He thanked local government units and the private sector for their continued support in the national vaccination rollout. (PNA photo by Lade Kabagani) MANILA - The Covid-19 Alert Level 2 status in Metro Manila will remain for the rest of the year despite the detection of a third Omicron coronavirus case in the country, National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said Monday. The vaccine czar said the possible amendment on the alert level status will be based on the epidemiological recommendations of the Department of Health, considering key factors on cases surge and hospitalization rate. "If the cases are high, including critical cases, and if the attack rate will increase, that's the time we will raise our alert level," Galvez said during a media briefing at a mall vaccination site in