'Long weekend' seen in last week of August

Filipinos are likely to enjoy a long weekend in the last week of August as Malacañang announced plans to declare August 30 – the end of the holy month of Ramadan – a national holiday. However, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that August 1, the start of Ramadan, will not be declared a holiday. “Nakausap ko ang chief of staff ni Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. Ang sabi nila, August 1 hindi holiday. Ang magiging holiday, August 30, ang end of Ramadan," she said on government-run dzRB radio. Eid’l-Fitr is a holiday marking the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting considered one of the greatest religious observance in Islam. On the other hand, Valte noted August 29, National Heroes’ Day, is also a holiday. But she said there is no plan for now to declare August 27, the Saturday before National Heroes’ Day, a holiday. “I have not heard of plans to declare August 27 a holiday but August 29 and 30 are virtually certain to be holidays," she said. Under Proclamation No. 84, National Heroes’ Day is a holiday that falls on the last Monday of August. Eid’l Fitr and Eidul Adha are holidays but their dates are movable, the proclamation noted. “The proclamations declaring national holidays for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eidul Adha shall hereafter be issued after the approximate dates of the Islamic holidays have been determined in accordance with the Islamic calendar (Hijra) or the lunar calendar, or upon Islamic astronomical calculations, whichever is possible or convenient. To this end, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shall inform the Office of the President on which day the holiday shall fall," Section 2 of the proclamation said. — LBG, GMA News