PH

Singapore probably has one of the fewest public holidays in the world:

• New Year’s Day

• Chinese New Year (2 or 3 days)

• Good Friday

• Labour Day

• Vesak Day

• National Day

• Hari Raya Puasa

• Deepavali

• Hari Raya Raji

• Christmas Day.

That’s just 12 days in a year, assuming that Chinese New Year consists of 3 days.

So just imagine my disappointment when I started working here. I am used to having at least 15 public holidays back in Manila:

• New Year’s Day

• People Power/Edsa Revolution

• Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, (Black Saturday), Easter Sunday

• Araw ng Kagitingan

• Labor Day

• Independence Day

• Ninoy Aquino Day

• National Heroes’ Day

• All Saint’s Day

• Bonifacio Day

• Christmas Day

• Rizal Day

• New Year’s Eve

…and this doesn’t include "Regional Public Holidays" (for example, Manila Day, Pasay Day, Sinulog Festival, etc) wherein the respective local governments declare a Special Non-working Holiday in their respective cities or provinces)…plus, our beloved chick president has also declared some religious holidays like Chinese New Year and Ramadan to this growing list… AND let’s not forget that our beloved chick president loves to move public holidays on different days so that we can have longer weekends…AND classes are suspended on certain days because of the rainy season (and in recent times, due to strike/mutiny/coup, celebrity weddings–nye!).  And this moving of public and national holidays is actually a government policy already, read RA 9492.

Making this comparison makes me miss home.

I am reminded of something that the Philippine Comedian wrote on his blog:

Malacanang Moves Christmas to November 1

Malacañang, Sep 1, 2007. Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has signed an executive order officially moving the date of Christmas to November 1. Sources say the new order takes effect this year.

The official press statement explained the reasoning behind the shift in schedule. "December 25 is too matagal nwoh. Plus, tutal, we Filipinos can’t wait naman for Paskwoh, so why not just move it na mas maaga di bwah?" the press statement said.

When asked why the President chose November 1 for the new date, the press statement failed to reply. So instead, we interviewed a Malacañang insider.

"Well, like thuh — the President assigned four committees to study the feasibility of moving Christmas to four months, no? — August, September, October, and November, you know?" confided Procopio Mengkekekwek (not real name). "Eh bomalabs yung iba during their final presentation. So like, y’know, the November committee got the most votes because they were soooo kaka! And they even brought Willie Revillame to do the presentation, like y’know? And he brought pa his Wowowee girls to dance," added Mengkekekwek excitedly.

Opposition Senator Chiz Escudero immediately hit the latest move by Malacañang. "Naghihirap na nga ang mga tao, aagahan niyo pa ang Pasko," said the visibly irked (but handsome) senator. "Ako ang boses ng kabataan sa Senado," he also said.

The handsome Escudero, who was wearing a barong tagalog designed by Ino Sotto, pointed out major problems that the schedule shift will cause. "For example, what will happen to All Soul’s Day? And will we now move New Year’s day to December 1."

The president is currently doing Pilates and unavailable for any comment.

So does this mean we are not hardworking people? No lah! Having more holidays , for me, means that we are such fun-loving people who, even during our life’s darkest and lowest moments, still know how to stop and smell the roses.

For the  official list of holidays in the Philippines, click here. For the official list of holidays in Singapore, don’t even bother–it’s still the same list.