Malacañang on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s conversion of All Souls’ Day (November 2), December 24 (Christmas Eve) and December 31 (New Year’s Eve) into “special working holidays” was necessary to make up for lost time.
“We have to recover lost time. Napakatagal na po nating nakabakasyon. Tingnan natin kung anong mangyayari. Let us have faith in our economic team,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.
Roque made the statement in response to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who said the scrapping of the three holidays was “rubbing salt on the people’s wounds.”
“Bakit aalisin ang pagkakataon para kumita ang mga kababayan natin ng extra, ngayong marami ang hirap sa buhay?” she said.
Duterte signed Proclamation No. 1107 last week that amended the three holidays, which had been special non-working holidays.
An employee who goes to work on a special non-working holiday is entitled to an additional 30 percent of his daily pay for that day. A special working holiday does not provide bonus pay for employees who show up at work.
Over the weekend, Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo slammed Duterte’s proclamation.
“Bakit ito ang nakitang paraan para mabuksan ang ekonomiya?” she said. John Ezekiel J. Hirro