| Written by Thingfish,
on 30-08-2005 00:49
|
When is a holiday a regular working day?
When it's a regular holiday.
In the Philippines, riddles and reality are often hard to
distinguish. On Saturday, Philippine president Gloria Arroyo announced
that
Sunday would be 'a regular holiday' to commemorate the country's
assorted historical characters. Being a catholic country, this should
not have been a surprise: To most christians, Sunday is the very
definition of the word holiday. But the surprise element was that the
government had previously said National Heroes Day would be a regular
Sunday, and not a
holiday.
The holiday was announced by the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE), which seems
like a great name for a body set up to support the unemployed. Just
to muddy the waters a little more, someone on the Dole decided
schools and government offices could have Monday off to make up for
having their holiday fall on a Sunday. In other words, it was a
public sector public holiday.
And there's nothing unique, or even unusual about this confusing
state of affairs. Just a week ago, the government announced August 21 as
“a national special non-working holiday” in honour of Benigno
"Ninoy" Aquino, who was assasinated seventeen years ago.
As the national Ninoy day proves, you don't even need symbolic round number
to justify a holiday. In June, Manilans were given two days notice of
a 'special non-working day' in commemoration of the 434th
anniversary of the founding of Manila. This was slightly irritating for those of us who work just outside the capital.
That surprise local holiday came a week after Filipinos were told
on a Friday that the following Monday would be a special non-working
day to mark the day after Independence Day.
Again, that one came just a fortnight after the government had
written to businesses assuring them that there would be no holiday.
But with rumours of protests and insurrections reaching
uncomfortable levels, Arroyo
decided to declare a holiday so everyone would head off to party in
the provinces instead.
The country that invented People Power has also grown pretty tired
of it; but Arroyo wasn't taking any chances. And it seems her plan
worked. That
day, the Philippine Daily Inquirer was as usual doing its best to
provoke the masses in protest. Its front page carried four
stories: The lead [GMA calls for end to 'dirty
politics'] described an upopular president under seige. The second, [Senators urge Arroyo lawmakers to resign] called on Arroyo's relatives to quit politics. Next came [Examine conscience
GMA told] a plea from some bishop for Arroyo herself to resign. Last but not
least, [Three nations at war on Independence Day] a story on “the
most dangerous political crisis ever to threaten the 11-month
administration of president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo”.
It was all just another week in Philippine politics, and jaded Manilans were having none of it. Although opposition lawmakers
lead a couple of small protests, all across Manila, you could hear the
same conversation:
"What you up to this weekend? Fancy bringing down the
government?"
"Naaah. I'm off to the beach."
But political expediency is a poor excuse to declare a national shop closure.
Anywhere else, public holidays are set many months in advance. That way the printers get time to print their
calendars, companies plan their books, employers sort their
schedules and the worker gets to consider how he'll save enough money
to pay for Christmas. This works well enough. Now and
then a government might spring a big day on us all, but by and large,
we all know on a Friday whether we'll be back in the office on
Monday.
Earlier this month, the Joint Foreign Chambers
of the Philippines issued a statement condemning Arroyo's 'holiday economics'.
For a developing nation with a shaky economy and huge regional
competition, the last thing the government should be doing is
irritating its investors. But with the ever changing calendar, businesses complain that they can't plan orders, deliveries, shifts,
holidays, maintenance, meetings, deadlines - nothing. It's this uncertainty that
drives foreign firms away from the Philippines and into the firmer embrace of less worker-friendly locations like China or
Vietnam.
Last minutre holidays are also a pain for the workforce. Declaring a public holiday
on a Friday is too late for most people, who've already made their plans for the weekend. A sudden extra day off is
just a lost opportunity. If you give a worker a one day weekend, he'll spend the day in
bed. Give him two or three and maybe he'll head out and support the
economy. But trips take planning – something you can't start doing on a Saturday afternoon. Besides all that, poor casual workers won't appreciate the
holiday anyway, no matter what you call it, because most of them will just go hungry.
And a Monday holiday that only benefits
school kids and civil servants will just annoy everyone.
If
Arroyo
really wants to make people happy with a holiday, she should drop the
confusing names and give everybody a couple of months' warning, so they
get time to plan. Anything else is just an extended
Sunday: It's nice to spend the day in bed, but it's not as nice as a long -anticipated weekend on the
beach.
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holidays, are used for celebrating with ur families, so if you hvae a holiday where not everyone knows about,... than you can't be with your family 
holidays, are used for celebrating with ur families, so if you hvae a holiday where not everyone knows about,... than you can't be with your family