Nalzaro: IATF has no hard and fast rules

Nalzaro: IATF has no hard and fast rules

Pending appearance of so-called medical experts and consultants of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) before the Cebu Provincial Board (PB), Cebu’s swab-upon-arrival policy for arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning overseas Filipino (ROFs) will be implemented at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

This is the categorical statement of Gov. Gwen Garcia during my radio interview over dySS Super Radyo last Thursday morning, June 17, 2021. She said that this was the consensus they agreed among the other stakeholders during their meeting after President Duterte ordered Cebu to follow the IATF policy on arriving OFWs and ROFs. International flights resumed last Sunday, June 13, at the MCIA after the order of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea expired the day before.

During her attendance through Zoom in the Senate as a whole committee hearing last Tuesday, Gwen invited IATF medical experts and consultants through Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to appear before the PB so Cebu’s legislators may be enlightened about their policy on OFWs and ROFs, which differ a little from Gwen’s policy.

Gwen said with the explanation of these medical experts and consultants, it’s time for PB members to “revisit” Ordinance 2021-04, which was based on her Executive Order (EO) 17, which requires OFWs and ROFs to be swabbed upon arrival at the airport. Those found negative will be allowed to go home to their respective destinations but will still be monitored and subjected to another swab test on the seventh day.

On the statement of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año that the order of the President prevails over local ordinance, Gwen said the IATF guidelines are not laws. The creation of IATF is a law, but its guidelines are not and therefore cannot supersede local laws that were legally passed by a local legislative body with the power vested upon it by the Local Government Code (LGC).

Gwen explained that she has high regard and respect for the President, but she can’t just easily disregard the ordinance passed by the PB because it is legal and valid unless declared invalid and “ultra vires” (acting or done beyond one’s legal power or authority) by a competent court. Besides, if she doesn’t implement the ordinance, she can be charged with dereliction of duty. Being a member of a family of lawyers (her mother a judge and father a constitutionalist/congressman and two of her brothers are also lawyers), she has to follow and observe the rule of law. But she is willing to meet “halfway” or come up with a “win-win solution” after she hears explanations of IATF’s experts and consultants.

Gwen anchored her legal arguments on Section 105 of the LGC.

I cannot really fathom and understand why IATF cannot accept or even come up with a compromise agreement with the Province, when it has been changing its guidelines to conform to the times as Covid-19 has also levelled up with more variants. IATF has no hard and fast rules, meaning it has no fixed or definite rules but rather traditional guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus.

Here’s some proof that IATF has been amending and changing its policies.

On Jan. 21, it issued Resolution 95, which requires incoming passengers to be tested upon arrival and quarantined until the result of a subsequent test administered on the fifth day is released. Those who yield a negative result will be endorsed to the local government unit (LGUs) of destination, which will

monitor them for the remainder of the 14-day quarantine through their respective Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs).

On Jan. 26, it issued Resolution 96, which states: “Arriving passengers, regardless of origin, shall be required to undergo facility-based quarantine upon arrival; 2) Unless the passenger exhibits symptoms at an earlier date while on quarantine, Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test shall be conducted on the fifth day from date of arrival in the Philippines. 3) If the RT-PCR test yields a negative result, the passenger shall be endorsed to the LGU of destination who shall then coordinate transfer of said passenger from quarantine facility to the LGU and strictly monitor remainder of the 14-day quarantine through their respective BHERTs.

And it came up recently with Resolution 114 on swabbing on the seventh day, which the governor “innovated.”

You see, this is not so different from the policy imposed by Cebu Province. As what I said in my previous columns, Gwen’s policy is still in line with the prevention of the spread of the virus. Why would the IATF question it when it is still in consonance with the medical point of view and is still science-based management?

And why does the IATF keep on changing its policies? Maybe the people up there do not want to end this Covid thing because of vested interests.

And talking of local autonomy, aside from our Constitution and the LGC, this was also stipulated in the Bayanihan 2 to Recover as One Act, which allows “LGUs to continue exercising their autonomy in matters undefined by the national government or are within the parameters it has set; and are fully cooperating towards a unified, cohesive and orderly implementation of the national policy to address Covid-19; Provided, that pursuant to the constitutional right of freedom of movement of persons, the IATF-EID shall be responsible for providing guidance on cross-border concern, including but not limited to, locally stranded individuals, OFWs, domestic travelers and residents while LGUs shall determine the policies and regulations within their respective jurisdictions.”

Although, this law has been repealed upon the adjournment of the first regular session of the 18th Congress in accordance with Article V1, Section 23 (2) of the Constitution.

So, this was before Christmas last year.

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