How Can EDSA People Power Turn Into a Philippine Holiday Again?
Because 2024 is short of one holiday.
(SPOT.ph) February 25 or EDSA People Power Anniversary will not be a special non-working day come 2024 after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. removed it in the list of holidays because it “falls on a Sunday.” Is the move legal, and is there a way to make it a permanent holiday?
There's no law declaring the EDSA People Power Anniversary a holiday, so presidents like Marcos Jr. are free to not declare it as such—without breaking any laws. This prompted a lawmaker to file a bill to declare it a national—and permanent—holiday.
Also read: The EDSA People Power Anniversary Is Not Included in the 2024 Holiday Lineup
Why EDSA People Power Anniversary is important
EDSA People Power Revolution marks the bloodless uprising when millions of Filipinos gathered in EDSA in 1986 to call for the ouster of Marcos Sr. It was first commemorated in 1987, when late President Corazon Aquino declared February 25 a national non-working special public holiday to mark its first anniversary. Since then, presidents issued proclamations to declare it a holiday or special non-working day.
In his first year as president, Marcos Jr. declared February 25 (Saturday) a special non-working day but moved it to Friday, February 24 following the reintroduced principle of holiday economics which allows Filipinos to have long weekends.
But on October 13, the EDSA People Power Anniversary was quietly removed in the 2024 holiday lineup by Marcos Jr—whose father is late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The Palace's explanation? "There is minimal socio-economic impact in declaring this day as a special non-working holiday since it coincides with the rest day for most workers and laborers." Take note that December 8 or the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—which also falls on a Sunday in 2024—is still a special non-working day in 2024.
The move was met with cricitisms, with Project Gunita calling it a "complete eradication" and whitewashing of his father's "brutal dictatorship" during martial law years.
More than its significance in the country's history, the EDSA People Power Anniversary being a special non-working day meaning employees who are required to work on that day will receive additional 30% payment for services rendered.
Also read:
Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and the Marcos Mythology
ICYDK: Ferdinand Marcos Has a Guinness World Record
EDSA People Power Anniversary: What happens next?
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman on Monday filed a bill seeking to declare February 25 every year as a regular, national holiday.
"There must be a law institutionalizing the celebration as a regular national public non-working holiday of the EDSA People Power Revolution which started on February 22, 1986 and culminated on February 25, 1986," Lagman said in his House Bill 9405.
"It has often been said that Filipinos have a short memory. This is unsurprising since we as a country have failed to institutionalize memorialization compared with other States."