Monday, August 9, 2010

Aquino not inclined to observe Aug. 23 as holiday

Filed Under: Benigno Aquino III, Public Holidays

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) President Benigno Aquino III appears disinclined to observe August 23 as a non-working holiday in connection with the 27th death anniversary of his father, martyred former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said over government station dzRB on Saturday.

Lacierda, however, said the administration recognizes the law on holiday economics that requires that most holidays, except those with religious significance, be shifted to the nearest Monday.

August 21 this year falls on a Saturday and August 23 is the nearest Monday.

“It appears that (President Aquino) is not inclined to observe it. You know very well that President Aquino is sensitive when it comes to celebrations involving his parents,” Lacierda said.

“But there is a holiday economics law so we would still discuss (this matter) with President Aquino although he already said that he is not inclined" to declare August 23 a non-working holiday, he added.

Lacierda said he has received many inquiries in connection with the supposed holiday on August 23 but he has replied that Aquino "doesn’t want too much attention on any anniversary of his parents."

Republic Act 9256, however, declares August 21 a special non-working holiday. In addition, last year, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued a proclamation declaring August 23, among other dates this year, as a special holiday.

The Act was passed by Congress on February 25, 2004 to mark the 18th anniversary of the 1986 "People Power" revolution that restored democracy in the Philippines.

August 21, 1983, the day opposition leader Ninoy Aquino was assassinated as he was being escorted by soldiers off a plane that took him home from three years of exile in the United States, is not being celebrated simply as the death anniversary of an Aquino, but as the event that triggered a chain of massive street protests that eventually culminated in the Edsa "People Power" Revolution of 1986.

After 14 years of dictatorship, Ferdinand Marcos fled under the cover of darkness to exile in Hawaii, while Ninoy’s widow, Corazon Aquino, who had become a symbol of the people’s disgust with the impugnity of the dictatorship, was swept to power.

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