Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero clarified that there are currently no plans to reduce the number of holidays in the country.
According to Escudero, the Senate’s policy is neither to increase nor decrease the existing number of holidays.
Escudero’s statement was in response to various criticisms he received after his previous remark, where he mentioned that they would limit the approval of local bills proposing new holidays.
The Senate leadership noted that there are currently 24 to 25 holidays in the Philippines annually, not including work suspensions due to adverse weather conditions.
He added that if there are only 22 working days in a month, it would seem like workers are missing an entire month’s worth of work.
Their only aim, he said, is to make the Philippines more competitive.
However, Escudero emphasized that this issue is not a priority for the Senate at this time.