Marcos not moving ‘Ninoy Aquino Day’ observance this year
Malacañang has no plans at the moment to give workers and students a long weekend.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the Office of the President has not given word on whether the observance of Ninoy Aquino Day would be moved from Aug. 21 (today) to Aug. 22 (Friday).
There are two holidays in August under Proclamation No. 727 issued by President Marcos.
Aug. 21, or Ninoy Aquino Day, is a special nonworking holiday to commemorate the 42nd death anniversary of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., archcritic of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the current President’s father and namesake.
The other is National Heroes Day, a regular holiday traditionally observed on Aug. 25.
‘Holiday economics’
The President moved the observance of Ninoy Aquino Day last year, much to the dismay of historians, activists and supporters of the Aquino family.
On Aug. 15, 2024, Mr. Marcos issued Proclamation No. 665, which changed the observance of Ninoy Aquino Day from Aug. 21, 2024, (Wednesday) to Aug. 23, 2024, (Friday) “in order to provide for a longer weekend, thereby promoting domestic tourism.”
Some sectors criticized that surprise move, stressing that any proclamation moving a holiday should have been issued six months earlier as required under Republic Act No. 9492, also known as the “Holiday Economics” law.
Members of the August Twenty One Movement (Atom), a civil society group formed in protest at the killing of Ninoy Aquino in 1983 at the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport, called the move a form of historical revisionism.
The holiday was created by Republic Act No. 9256, signed by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in 2004.
It commemorates the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, whose death on Aug. 21, 1983, set off a period of political unrest that led to the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution and downfall of Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship.
Aquino’s widow, Corazon, succeeded Marcos to become the country’s 11th President from 1986 to 1992. Their only son, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, served as the 15th President from 2010 to 2016.
In 2022, Mr. Marcos’ first year as President, the holiday’s observance was muted as the Palace did not issue any commemorative statement, breaking tradition.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines also did not issue a statement.
For the 2023 commemoration, Mr. Marcos called on Filipinos to unite and “transcend political barriers” to advance nation’s interests.
“I stand united with all Filipinos worldwide in commemorating Ninoy Aquino Day. By standing for his beliefs and fighting for battles he deemed right, he became an example of relentlessness and resolve for many Filipinos,” the President then said.
