19 more nonworking holidays proposed

Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez has filed a bill seeking to declare 19 special nonworking holidays to a national calendar that already includes 18 holidays for 2023. Fernandez proposed to declare the seven-day Passover, Feast of First Fruits, Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkkot). He did not explain why the country’s Catholic majority should celebrate Jewish holidays, except to say that it is mentioned in the Christian Bible. —JULIE M. AURELIO