A big announcement was made yesterday to answer the many questions sent to us this past few days. The confusion from readers and followers has ended about whether August 12 is a holiday or not. With the release of the Proclamation No. 789 by the President of the Philippines Rodrigo R. Duterte, a long weekend is indeed upon us. It is a regular holiday in observance of Eid’l Adha or Feast of Sacrifice.
Proclamation No. 789: August 12, 2019 is a Regular Holiday (Eid’l Adha)
Contrary to our previous post, Eid’l Adha (or Feast of Sacrifice) is set on August 12, 2019, making it a regular holiday all over the Philippines. The Malacañang Palace released the Proclamation No. 789 signed by the President declaring Monday, August 12, a regular holiday, in observance of Eid’l Adha.
Proclamation No. 789
Here is the signed copy of the Proclamation No. 789 from the Malacañang Palace, released yesterday, August 8, 2019.
In Islamic festivities, Eid’l Adha marks the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail or Ismael) as an act of obedience to God, before God then intervened, to provide him with a sheep to sacrifice instead. It is one of the largest religious festivals for Muslims worldwide.
In the Philippines, Republic Act (RA) 9849 signed in 2009 says the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah or the twelfth month of the Islamic Calendar, is hereby declared as a national holiday for the observance of Eid’l Adha.
According to Proclamation No. 555 for the nationwide holidays for the year 2019, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shall inform the Office of the President of the actual date of Eid’l Adha on which this holiday shall fall.
An excerpt from the Proclamation No. 555 states that:
“SECTION 2. The proclamations declaring national holidays for the observance of Eidul 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 the actual dates on which these holidays shall respectively fall.”
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The Department of Education (DepEd), however, already included in its Order No. 007, series of 2019 calendar for the school year 2019-2020, making August 12 as a regular holiday for Eid’l Adha.
