For More Long Breaks: Senate Bill Seeks to Move Weekend Holidays to Nearest Monday

(SPOT.ph) A measure has been filed in the Senate seeking to rationalize the observance of national holidays in the country to allow for more long weekends, promoting work-life balance for students and workers and encouraging domestic tourism.

In Senate Bill 1651, Senator Raffy Tulfo proposed that if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. The bill aims to amend Republic Act 9492, which permits certain holidays to be celebrated on a Monday.

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Why the need for more long weekends?

According to Tulfo's bill: "The increase in the number of long weekends can help reduce stress, prevent burnout, and promote work-life balance for both employees and students by allowing them to decompress and spend time with their family and friends."

Holidays that fall on a weekend make them feel "less celebratory for individuals," it added.

Under Tulfo's proposal, the President should issue a proclamation on the first Monday of December declaring the specific dates that will be a non-working day the following year.

It was former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who enacted RA 9492, alternatively known as the "Holiday Economics Law", moving regular and special holidays to the nearest Monday to boost domestic tourism.

The practice of moving holidays to the nearest Monday, however, ended during the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III when he issued Proclamation No. 84 series of 2010, setting the specific dates of holidays for the year 2011.

President Bongbong Marcos earlier issued an updated list of holidays for 2023, saying that holidays need to be adjusted "to the principle of holiday economics" to help encourage domestic travel and increase tourism expenditures during long weekends.