PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has issued Proclamation 719, declaring May 13, Monday, a special non-working holiday to pave the way for the conduct of the midterm National and Local Elections.

Duterte signed the proclamation on Thursday, May 9.

"There is a need to declare Monday, 13 May 2019, a special (non-working) holiday to enable the people to properly exercise their right to vote," he added.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is is seeking the declaration of May 14 as a holiday to ensure brownout-free tallying of the votes cast in Luzon, which was placed on "red alert condition" on April 29.

Red alert status is raised when power reserves crash to zero or negative levels.

Duterte, however, has yet to respond to the DOE's recommendation.

During the 37th Cabinet meeting on May 6, however, the DOE assured the President that there would be no power outage during the conduct of May 13 midterm elections. (SunStar Philippines)