TODAY is a special day for Filipino workers because they get paid more than double. Those who have to work, that is.
And we have the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and our Muslim brothers and sisters to thank for that.
And, of course, Malacañang, which decided to lump the two events together.
To those who are too busy enjoying the day-off and still don’t know what I’m talking about, today is a special non-working holiday to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Aquino’s assassination at the then Manila International Airport.
Millennials who have no idea who he was, well, here’s a teaser.
Ninoy was the father of Kris and Noynoy—yup, the guy who was president before Rodrigo Duterte who baffled non-Tagalog speakers like me every time he delivered his State of the Nation Address because he assumed everyone could understand him.
(Seriously, you can live out your whole life here in Cebu without having to utter one single Tagalog word. Not that I’m anti-Tagalog, mind you. I think it’s a beautiful language when it’s not rammed down your throat.)
But where was I?
Oh yes, Ninoy’s death was the beginning of the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, who lorded over the archipelago for over two decades. It managed to galvanize the opposition to unite behind his widow Corazon—yes, the very same lady who had a penchant for wearing yellow dresses.
Less than three years after, on Feb. 25, 1986, Marcos and the First Family were airlifted to Guam before they were taken to Hawaii carrying millions of dollars in “jewelries, gold, stocks and cash.”
None of this is fake news, by the way. I lived through the Edsa Revolution as a high school student in Brent Baguio.
And since Ninoy Aquino Day is “special” and not a “regular” holiday, people who have to toil on this day will get a premium of 30 percent.
Also tonight, the whole of Islamdom will celebrate the Feast of the Sacrifice, or Eid al-Adha.
It commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to heed the command of God to sacrifice his son.
If you’re wondering why Ibrahim is very familiar, it’s because that’s what Muslims call the prophet Abraham in the Old Testament.
To the uninitiated, Islam is one of the three major Abrahamic religions along with Judaism and Christianity, meaning adherents of these faiths all worship the god of Abraham.
They may call God by different names because of language differences, but for all intents and purposes, they are one and the same.
And since Eid al-Adha is considered a major holiday, it is “regular.” That means people who have no choice but to work on this day will be paid 200 percent of their daily rate.
Now, let’s do the math.