Oct. 31 NOT a holiday, says Palace

MANILA, Philippines – The government on Wednesday clarified that October 31 has not been declared a national holiday, dashing the hopes of many netizens who received word that it was.

“For those asking: October 31 is not a nationwide holiday,” the Official Gazette (@govph) said over Twitter with a link to the complete list of this year’s holidays.

Read: 2013 holidays, 2014 holidays

As early as Wednesday morning, tweets and Facebook posts saying October 31 was a holiday has been circulating. However, no government official confirmed the news.

A number of Twitter users erroneously shared a 2011 news article from Yahoo Philippines announcing that October 31 has been declared a holiday.

“A recently viral Yahoo PH story re: Oct 31 holiday was posted in 2011. Some probably just got excited when they saw the word “holiday,” Yahoo Philippines said.

Many were disappointed with the false news.

“Umasa pa naman ako!” one netizen said over Twitter.

“Kuryente. Oct 31 is NOT a holiday,” said user @Patty_Potato.

Another one pointed out, “Aside sa sunog at chismis, mabilis ding kumalat ang non-working holiday. Tulad (nitong) oct 31 (Aside from fire and gossip, news of a non-working holiday also spreads fast. Just like the supposed October 31 holiday).”

Nevertheless, Filipinos should look forward to the two consecutive long weekends because of the barangay (village) elections on October 28 and All Saints Day on November 1.