President Benigno Aquino III has signed into law a bill declaring August 9 as National Indigenous People’s Day in a bid to promote the rights of IP groups in the country.
Republic Act no. 10689, signed by Aquino on October 23, 2015, states that August 9 each year will be recognized as a special working holiday.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is directed to come up with the law’s implementing rules and regulations.
August 9 is also the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, there are 14 to 17 million IPs belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines. Most of them are in the Cordillera Administrative Region (33 percent) and in Mindanao (61 percent).
If a worker reports to the office during a special working holiday, he is entitled to his daily rate plus an additional 30 percent pay. No work means no pay.