Is it a Holiday?

Do you know that this is the most common inquiry, question the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) receives for the entire year?

 

Usually we get this question, weeks and then days prior to the said Holiday. And as it nears, we get more and more calls asking the same question.

                                                                                                                                                                    Probably  because that Holiday is already declared under a Presidential Proclamation (issued the year

before) and detailing the list of Holidays for the entire year.

Say for example, for this year 2017, as early as July of last year, Malacanang, through the Official Gazette, then posted Proclamation number 50, declaring the Regular and Special (Non-Working) holidays the entire year.

It is what we simply call as an umbrella Presidential Proclamation..

It covers the Regular Holidays such as New Year's Day, Bonifacio Day, Labor Day; and then the

Special Non Working Holidays like Black Saturday, Ninoy Day, Chinese New Year..etc.

At the same time, Proclamation 50 made mention religious holidays which does not have specific dates.

So far only the two Muslim holidays are covered under the umbrella Proclamation and these are Eidul  Fittr which usually falls in the month of June and Eidul Adha, somewhere in between August and September.

The exact date is dependent upon the Muslim calendar.  Once identified, the Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA) and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) must inform Malacanang for the issuance of another Presidential Proclamation.

Yep, dear readers.  It needs another law which specifies the exact date of the celebration.

The celebration of Eidul Fittr of this year for example was officially declared   on June 26 under Presidential Proclamation 235.  

Therefore, even if there are already postings and calculations on the exact  date of Eidul Adha, what we can answer you is ...

"As of press time, there is no released Proclamation yet on the said celebration"  

By the way, here are next year's list of Holidays in the Philippines..just click this : HOLIDAYS 2018