Labor Day was first observed in the country on May 1, 1903, when a hundred thousand workers marched from Plaza Moriones in Tondo to Malacañang to demand fairer working conditions from the then American-led government.
On April 8, 1908, the Philippine Assembly passed a bill officially recognizing the first of May as a national holiday.
The country’s first official celebration of Labor Day, however, was only on May 1, 1913, when 36 labor unions convened a labor congress at Cine Oriente on C.M. Recto Street, then known as Azcarraga, in Manila. —Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research
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