By Fernan Angeles
WHOEVER said Filipinos are stubborn should be surprised to know that the Philippines ranked third when it comes to complying with government’s public health and safety protocol, particularly on the mandatory wearing face masks.
In a study conducted by finance and technology website Finder, it showed 87 percent of the Filipinos have their own face masks, which include surgical type, the medical grade and the re-usable ones.
United Kingdom topped the list with 97 percent, South Africa occupies the second spot with 90 percent and the Philippines at third place.
Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia had the lowest face mask ownership rates.
Aside from face masks, 43 percent of Filipinos were recorded to own face shields, making the Philippines on top under the category of highest ownership rate of face shields. The UK is at far second place with only 13 percent of the population owned the full face covering.
Back in July, another report by the Social Weather Station revealed that 76 percent of Filipinos always wore face masks—contrary to popular belief that the pandemic continued to spread in the Philippines due to the lack of discipline in Filipinos.
Since August, face shields have been required in several establishments, as well as public transport.