No, the Philippine government has not declared December 26, 2018 and January 2, 2019, national holidays

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on December 11, 2018 at 10:00
  • Updated on December 21, 2018 at 11:35
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Philippines
A report claims the Philippine government has declared two extra holidays over this Christmas-New Year season. The December 11 report was false; the government had not announced any extra holidays when it was published.

The Philippine News website claims that “Malacañang Palace” has proclaimed December 26, 2018, and January 2, 2019, special non-working holidays, following the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Malacañang refers to the presidential palace, and is a commonly used shorthand for the executive branch of government.

Here is a screenshot of the article:

Image
(Snapshot of report)

#WalangPasok means #NoWork and #NoClasses.

The Philippine government lists public holidays on an official gazette available online.

The holidays for 2018 are specified in Proclamation No. 269, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on July 17, 2017.

Below is a screenshot of the holidays listed by Proclamation No. 269. December 26 is not listed as a holiday:

Image
(Snapshot of list of 2018 holidays)

The holidays for 2019 are listed in Proclamation 555, signed by Duterte on August 15, 2018.

Here are the dates for the holidays in 2019. January 2 is not one of them:

Image
(Snapshot of list of 2019 holidays)

UPDATE: this story has been updated to reflect the fact that on December 17, 2018 -- six days after the misleading report was published -- the government issued a memorandum saying that January 2, 2019 will be a holiday, but only for government employees. and students from state-run educational institutions.

On December 21, 2018, the government issued a circular which suspended work also for government employees on December 26, 2018.

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