Press Release - Ejercito: Official statement On the proposal to limit the number of holidays in the Philippines

It seems that our Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero was misunderstood. To clarify, there is no proposal to reduce the current special and non-working holidays in the country.

The Senate, following the Senate President's instructions, has agreed that if a province already has a special non-working holiday, only one can be granted. We can declare a special working holiday, which can be converted into a non-working holiday for that year, if local governments request it and the President approves it.

To be clear, the rationalization of holidays only applies to proposed local special non-working holidays.

In addition, we need to look at the bigger picture here--businesses create jobs, and keeping them strong helps our country stay competitive. By increasing holidays, this could impact our competitiveness and attractiveness to foreign investors.

To set the record straight, as per the Senate President, hindi po natin binabawasan ang mga national holidays; sinusubukan lang nating maging makatwiran. Wala pong magiging bawas o aalisin sa mga kasalukuyang regular and special non-working holidays, pero hindi na po tayo magdadagdag ng mga national holidays.

We need to strike a balance between what benefits our people and laborers and ensuring the survival of businesses.