Bill to make Tuesday after election day a holiday

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MANILA, Philippines — A longer election weekend looms ahead for Filipinos when the country goes to polls to choose its next President in May 2016, and in subsequent national elections, if a bill in Congress gets enacted into law.

The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill that would make the Tuesday immediately after election day—the second Monday of May in an election year—a holiday.

If passed into law, this  would effectively give Filipinos a four-day weekend, since election day is also a holiday.

The bill is intended to increase voter turnout, which has not been that high in the previous elections, according to Capiz Representative Fredenil Castro, chairman of the House suffrage and electoral reforms committee.

Castro said the extra day off would encourage those who are registered in far-flung provinces to return to their hometown and vote.

According to him, some of these people had been reluctant to go home to their hometowns to vote because they would have to go back to work the next day, and they are concerned that they may not have enough time to return.

With such concerns, some just choose not to vote at all, he said.

But if the Tuesday after election day is made a holiday as well, voters would have enough time to allocate for their travel needs and they would have no more excuse not to exercise their civic duty, he said.

In the last presidential election in May 2010, some 74 percent of registered voters showed up to the polls, while 77 percent came to vote in last year’s midterm elections.

The Commission on Elections is also in a mission to improve voters’ participation in the elections  and is encouraging Filipinos to register and to provide their biometrics data so that they will be able to participate in the 2016 elections.

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