THE Edsa People Power Anniversary, which has been celebrated in the Philippines every 25th of February, is no longer a holiday in 2024.
Malacañang released on Friday, October 13, 2023, a copy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Proclamation 368, which enumerated the holidays for next year.
Included in the list of regular holidays are January 1 (New Year’s Day), March 28 (Maundy Thursday), March 29 (Good Friday), April 9 (Araw ng Kagitingan), May 1 (Labor Day), June 12 (Independence Day), August 26 (National Heroes Day / Last Monday of August), November 30 (Bonifacio Day), December 25 (Christmas Day), and December 30 (Rizal Day).
Declared as special (non-working) days are August 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day), November 1 (All Saints’ Day), December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary), December 31 (Last Day of the Year).
Four dates were also declared as additional special (non-working) days. These are February 10 (Chinese New Year), March 30 (Black Saturday), November 2 (All Souls’ Day), and December 24 (Christmas Eve).
The list did not include the Edsa People Power Anniversary, which was commemorated for the 37th time this year as a special non-working holiday.
The Edsa People Power, which happened on February 25, 1986, saw thousands of people marching along the stretch of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) in Manila shouting for change as they condemned the rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father and namesake of the incumbent President. The revolution toppled the Marcos dictatorship in the same year.
Reports said that the Palace has not explained the non-inclusion of the Edsa People Power Anniversary in the list of holidays.
Proclamation 368 was signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on October 11.
It stated that the Department of Labor and Employment will implement the guidelines for the proclamation, which took effect immediately.
“The proclamations declaring national holidays for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eid’l Adha shall hereafter be issued after the approximate dates of the Islamic holidays have been determined in accordance with the Islamic calendar (Hijra) or the lunar calendar, or upon Islamic astronomical calculations, whichever is possible or convenient,” the proclamation stated.
Malacañang then advised the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos to recommend to the Office of the President the actual dates on which Eid’l Fitr and Eid’l Adha holidays will respectively fall. (LMY)