Celebrating the 112th Independence Day

Freedom to every Filipino here and abroad! It is the 112th celebration of the Philippines Independence Day and it started real early! Aside from not enjoying a holiday (since the government moved the holiday on Monday in connection to the economic holiday RAs), I have no much complaint. The metro rail trains are free from 7 to 9 am today and later at 5 to 7 pm. It is going to be a busy day anyway, traffics everywhere as the celebration will be in hosted in different areas in the metro. Being in the office with free air con, coffee and water, and internet connection is a better treat!

I contented myself with reading some tweets and news. At 7 am, the outgoing President offered flowers to the National Hero monument in the Rizal Memorial Park. The Philippine flag was raised simultaneous with those in Kawit Cavite, attended by Justice Secretary Renato Corona, and in Caloocan by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Oscar Inocentes. The opening ceremonies, including that of the President’s Independence Speech, will be held there.

At 3 am, a parade will commence. There will be 10 floats that will showcase the administration’s 10-point agenda. These will showcase the country’s “global achievers” including CNN hero Efren Peñaflorida, beauty pageant titlists, sports achievers, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, and former education secretary Jesli Lapus.

A 30-minute firework display will follow shortly after the parade, which will also represent the closing of the celebration. The official holiday will be enjoyed on Monday, June 14, 2010.

 

Eidl Adha becomes a Long Vacation to Catholics

There’s another long weekend to look forward to at the end of November. The President has declared November 27 and 28 as National holidays in the observance of the Muslim’s Eidl Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, an Islamic culmination of Harirya Hajj or the pilgrimage to Makka (Mecca) of Saudi Arabia. Since the following day will be Sunday, that is going to be a great three days vacation. But wait, November 30 is also a regular holiday in celebration of the Bonifacio day. What we got, both the public and private sectors, is a clean four days of grand vacation!

The proclamation has been made after consulting the department of labor and business groups. It is expected though, that there will be some reactions to these very long vacation. In fact, since it has been announced too early, it is not far from possible retraction once the affected parties have already voiced out their objection to this new holiday proclamation. That is going to be natural because long vacations in the past have really garnered a lot of criticisms.

Of course, for employees like me, I would want it to be pushed through. I can really use some vacation before the Christmas season kicks in. These four days ahead will do me a lot of good and hopefully, everyone else. To the employers, it is going to be a real different story. Let us just hope that in the end, best decisions will be made for the best interest of everyone.