Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Ariola: Debasing June 12 By Jose Paolo Ariola I Still Walk the Line
A HOLIDAY, according to Webster, is “a day appointed by law or custom for the suspension of general business usually in commemoration of some person or event.” It is a special occasion which falls on a day certain. The reason why holidays are supposed to be non-working days is because to give us citizens the chance to contemplate on the significance of a certain holiday as it falls on that particular day. Thus, Christmas Day is always December 25 because we Christians believe that it’s the birthday of our Savior. New Year’s Day is for all eternity January 1 because it is the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Similarly “Todos los Santos ” is at all times celebrated on November 1 as the day to remember our dearly departed. Rizal Day had always been December 30, to commemorate the martyrdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal who was executed on that fateful day.
These special holidays, by operation of law and by tradition, are fixed and non-transferable like one’s birthday. For instance, by law, an employee cannot take his or her birthday leave on any other day except on that day alone. If an employee’s birthday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday or a legal non-working holiday, he or she cannot take it on the next succeeding working day (as if “pambayad). The only non-working holidays in the Philippines which are transferable by nature are Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
Sometimes they fall in the last week of March or at other times during the first week of April depending on the Roman Catholic Church calendar. I’m not an astronomer and neither am I a theologian, but one thing I’ve noticed is that Good Fridays always fall whenever the moon is at its fullest? Try checking it out in the calendar. Movable as they are, the religious significance of these two “holy days” are nonetheless not debased whether they fall on March or April. It really doesn’t matter. But as to our other holidays of historical importance, it’s totally different.
It really saddens me whenever a “legal non-working holiday”, which is of historical importance to the country, is declared “a working holiday” just because it happens to fall, like say, on a Tuesday while its “non-working” aspect is moved a day earlier, obviously to avoid the dreaded “sandwich day” which is allegedly the bane of businessmen. Take for instance this year’s Independence Day, June 12, which falls on a Tuesday.
By presidential fiat, the “non-working” part of the occasion was transferred to June 11 (a Monday) on the justification that we all will have a long three-day weekend vacation and supposedly, to give us Filipinos more time to reflect on the significance of our Independence Day. For the likes of me, I don’t understand the rationale behind the penchant of this administration of moving holidays to some other days. So what, if we had office on Monday, June 11, and then, observe June 12 as a non-working holiday on Tuesday. A day is declared as a “non-working holiday” precisely because of its significance which only falls on that particular day and more importantly so that the people might reflect on the importance of that occasion in our collective national history and existence as a nation. One does not go to church in thanksgiving a day earlier than his birthday, does he?
The Independence Days of my childhood were days of civic and military parades, fun games at the plaza, fireworks, and fiesta-like atmosphere about town. Those were the days where our government officials stoked the fires of patriotic fervor in each and every citizen’s heart with fiery speeches. Sadly, the significance of June 12 has slowly been debased through the years. Nowadays, only a few display our national flag in their homes, establishments, and even motor vehicles unlike decades ago. Have we become less patriotic as a people? I’m afraid it appears to be so. Hey, it’s June 12! But where is the parade? Happy Independence Day, everyone!
