MANILA, Philippines—Fresh from an 11-day holiday break, the longest in recent history, Filipinos can look forward to 10 long weekends in 2009.
And the local business community, after several years of complaining about last-minute holiday declarations, seems to finally have something to cheer about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s so-called “holiday economics.”
That is because Malacańang Thursday decided to announce early the schedule of regular and special non-working holidays for 2009.
The Palace said the longer weekends would strengthen family ties and boost domestic tourism.
Under Proclamation No. 1699 that was signed last Dec. 24 by Ms Arroyo, the series of long weekends begins in April when the country observes the Holy Week.
For this year, the regular holidays that would mean long weekends are Araw ng Kagitingan (April 6, Monday), Maundy Thursday (April 9), Good Friday (April 10), Labor Day (May 1, Friday), Independence Day (June 12, Friday), National Heroes Day (Aug. 31, Monday), Bonifacio Day (Nov. 30, Monday), Christmas Day (Dec. 25, Friday), and Rizal Day (Dec. 30, Wednesday).
Another holiday is the Eid’l Fitr (end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan), which is determined either by the Islamic calendar, lunar calendar or Islamic astronomical calculations.
The proclamation also designates five special non-working holidays—Ninoy Aquino Day (Aug. 21, Friday), All Saints Day (Nov. 1, Sunday), Nov. 2 (Monday), Dec. 24 (Thursday), and Dec. 31 (Thursday).
Representatives of the country’s largest business lobby groups welcomed the proclamation.
MBC not critical
The Makati Business Club (MBC)—often critical of Ms Arroyo’s policies—expressed its approval of the early release of the holiday schedule.
“This will be a big boost to the tourism industry,” MBC executive director Alberto Lim said. “It will be especially beneficial to domestic tourism, as people will be encouraged to travel more.”
This would mean increased spending for transportation, food and other services, benefiting the rest of the economy, he said.
“We are definitely not objecting to this because a lot of industries will benefit,” Lim added, explaining that the business community’s objections to sudden holiday declarations in the past were due mainly to the disruptions they caused on company operations.
Emerging trend
The MBC executive, who used to run an upscale resort, noted that, from his own experience, bookings at leisure destinations often pick up during long weekends.
A cursory look at the holiday schedules of Asian neighbors shows that holiday economics is fast becoming the trend, he added.
Lim said the manufacturing sector—traditionally the most adversely hit by long breaks—would not be greatly affected after the labor department issued special rules, cutting overtime pay during these periods to only 30 percent of workers’ normal wages.
“Besides, more holidays this year will not affect manufacturing that much because most already have excess capacity [due to the global financial crisis],” he said.
Welcome move
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI) also welcomed the Palace move to declare the long weekends early.
“This way, we can schedule our work plan with our workers,” said PCCI chair emeritus Donald Dee.
Instead of causing workers to slack off, he said the long holidays might actually end up helping firms improve productivity.
Moveable feasts
“Since there will no longer be any surprises, we can maximize our work schedule,” Dee told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
The so-called “holiday economics” is a government program that moves the observance of certain nonreligious holidays to the nearest Monday in order to prolong weekends and allow Filipinos to spend more time in places like beaches and resorts, thus helping local tourism.
Last year, Araw ng Kagitingan was observed on April 7.
In her Dec. 24 proclamation, Ms Arroyo said: “In order to foster closer family ties during All Saints’ Day, as well as to enable our countrymen to observe Christmas more meaningfully, declaring Nov. 2 and Dec. 24 as additional special nonworking day throughout the country will strengthen the family relationship by providing longer weekends and renew ties for a longer period of time, as well as to promote domestic tourism.” With Inquirer Research
