MALACANANG has declared October 25- Monday as a special non-working holiday to give time for
Filipinos to go out and vote for the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
In Proclamation 48 issued October 6, 2010, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III said it is imperative
that the people be given the fullest opportunity to participate in the said elections and exercise their
right to vote.
With the proclamation too, Filipino voters registered in the country’s 42,000 barangays can also find
the necessary travel time to go back to their precincts with the long weekend, which allows them
ample time.
The next Monday also, November 1, is another holiday, bringing in two holidays in the immediate
weeks.
By tradition, November 1 is observed as the All Saints’ Day.
This day, thousands of Filipinos visit cemeteries to honor their dead relatives.
In 2007, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the bill on holiday economics,
which aimed to give the public more long weekends to enjoy.
Republic Act 9492 amends a provision in the National Administrative Code of 1987, to allow the
government to move holidays – except those with religious significance – to the nearest Monday.
The law also pegs four holidays on a fixed date: Jan. 1 or New Year’s Day; Nov. 1, All Saints’ Day;
Dec. 25, Christmas Day; and the last day of the year, Dec. 31.
Other holidays especially those religious in nature as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Eid’l Fitr
have always been set on movable dates so they are unchanged under the law.
For these kind of holidays, the
President, by law shall issue a proclamation,
at least six months prior to the holiday concerned, according to reports. (PIABOHOL)