MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — The Philippines is planning to lift the mandatory wearing of face masks in indoor spaces amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said Tuesday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will soon issue an executive order “to make the indoor wearing of face masks also voluntary all over the Philippines with a few exceptions,” Frasco told Palace reporters in a press conference.

“The overarching direction of the Marcos administration is to allow our country to convey an openness and readiness to the world, to receive tourists and investments so that we could give our fellow Filipinos an opportunity to regain all the livelihood and losses that were incurred during the pandemic,” she said.

“In the end, we simply cannot go on in a pandemic perspective because we have to give our country to thrive while maintaining basic health protocols on one hand and safe guarding and protecting livelihood and the economy on the other” she added.

The wearing of face masks will still be “highly encouraged for unvaccinated individuals, persons with comorbidities, as well as senior citizens,” Frasco said.

The Philippines is also set to waive other health protocols for travelers, including the requirement of presenting negative RT-PCR tests upon arrival, she said.

“As far as unvaccinated foreigners are concerned, they would henceforth be allowed entry into the Philippines with only the requirement of presenting an antigen test 24 hours taken before the departure or an option of taking an antigen test upon arrival into the Philippines,” the tourism chief said.

The country’s e-arrival platform was also upgraded to make it more user-friendly, she said.

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Questions have been trimmed to 10 from the usual 20, and travelers now have the option of filling out the e-arrival cards at their own convenience prior to departure or upon arrival.

'ASSESS INDIVIDUAL RISK'

In response to Frasco's pronouncement, the Department of Health said it is waiting for official guidance from the Palace.

"While the DOH has illustrated all potential scenarios to the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) during discussions concerning masking mandates, the IATF is a collegial body that takes into consideration the concerns of all sectors," the agency said in a statement.

In fight against COVID-19, the DOH said the public can protect themselves through vaccination, masking, and physical distancing.

The agency also urged Filipinos to assess one's individual risk from the virus.

"With this freedom to choose, it is therefore important for us to assess our individual risk thoroughly before deciding if it is safe and wise to remove our masks, especially now that the Undas and Christmas seasons are approaching and we expect increased COVID-19 transmission brought about by greater mobility," the DOH said.

Since the pandemic, the Philippines has logged 3.99 million COVID-19 infections, of which 22,850 are considered active cases, latest data from the DOH showed. The tally includes over 63,000 fatalities.

So far, some 73.4 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against the disease. Those who have received the additional jab is at 20.4 million.

WHY THE PHILIPPINES IS EASING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

The Philippines needs to ease several health and travel restrictions “to be at par with our ASEAN neighbors who have long liberalized their mask mandates,” Frasco said.

The Philippines, so far, lags behind Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in terms of tourist arrivals, she said last week.

When asked about the timing of the proposed policy considering the detection of new COVID-19 subvariants in the country and the upcoming holiday season, Frasco said: “This is not the very first time… We have had several other variants in the past and that is also why the DOH has been very aggressive in its vaccination campaign and booster campaign.”

“It is not a mutually exclusive exercise wherein by implementing the easing of these travel restrictions, efforts towards managing the pandemic would cease,” she said.

Data from the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 showed that “since September, there has been a decrease in COVID-19 cases by 2.8 percent,” Frasco said.

“The lifting of the mask mandate [in outdoor spaces] in no way led to any surges in any parts of the country,” she said.

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Frasco expressed optimism that with the easing of health restrictions, more tourists would consider coming to the Philippines.

During the recent Philippine Travel Exchange, the biggest government-led travel exchange organized by the Tourism Promotions Board, the country logged sales and leads worth about P173 million, Frasco said.

“This far exceeds previous sales in 2018 at P94.8 million, and P46 million in 2019.”

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“This tells us that the Philippines remains a top of mind destination all over the world, only that we need to continuously improve enabling mechanisms in coming to the Philippines,” she said.

The Philippines has recorded 1.82 million tourist arrivals in the country since January this year, Frasco said, noting that the number exceeds the initial 1.7 million projected tourist arrivals in the country for this entire year.

Marcos earlier said the Philippines would make use of tourism as one of its key economic drivers after the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his trip to Bacolod over the weekend, Marcos said the resumption of the Masskara Festival - one of the major annual festivals in the Visayas - proves that the Philippines is back to normal amid the pandemic.

But former government adviser Dr. Tony Leachon said that the Philippines is not yet back to normal as the country continues to log thousands of fresh COVID-19 cases daily.

Leachon cautioned that being too lax might lead to another surge in cases by the end of the year.

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