Holidays mean more than just vacations and it’s time lawmakers see that before dismissing our pleas as mere cries of laziness
The EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary is no longer considered a special non-working holiday. In Proclamation No. 727 signed October 2024, the February 25 holiday was declared a special working day. According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), employers should treat it as an ordinary working day for wage computation.
EDSA 1 was also infamously overlooked by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his 2023 Proclamation No. 368’s list of regular holidays and special non-working days.
The downplaying of the EDSA People Power Revolution’s historical significance has earned widespread resistance from several universities. De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) and its network of 16 schools declared suspension of classes and work. “Let us resist all attempts to erase from our collective memory what our nation achieved in February 1986,” wrote a statement from DLSP.
Schools such as the University of Santo Tomas, Saint Pedro Poveda College, Xavier School, Immaculate Conception Academy, and Adamson University have also suspended classes. Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila University notably did not.
UP president Angelo Jimenez also drew flak after declaring Feb. 25 an alternative learning day. More recently, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas doubled down on his decision to not suspend classes saying, “It’s a presidential prerogative, which means the president has the right to declare or not declare it as a holiday.”
READ: The curious case of the vanishing holiday—EDSA People Power no more?
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What do our holidays represent?
In recent years, several government agencies have expressed concerns over the Philippines’ abundance of holidays. In 2019, we had 22 official holidays, excluding local observances and any typhoon and disaster-related breaks—placing us as having among the most in the world. This year, we only have 18, marking a significant decrease.
That in itself makes for an argument that perhaps the EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary was removed because the national government had to cut down on holidays. Yes, but when Chinese New Year—all the love to the Filipino Chinese community—is regarded as a special non-working holiday and EDSA 1 isn’t, something’s wrong.
And it isn’t just about missing a day at school or at work as others may suggest. It also doesn’t matter whether or not you personally care about the day. Whatever you do on that day, its status as a national holiday signifies its importance to our collective Filipino memory.
READ: Feb 25 school holidays: Protesting ‘distortion of history’
EDSA People Power Revolution’s place in Philippine history
For all the conversation and pride surrounding our glorified Filipino trait of resilience, the EDSA People Power Revolution stands as the outlier, the exception when we as a people collectively chose to stand up and say that enough was enough. It was when we finally fought for our brothers and sisters who were oppressed and unjustly prosecuted by a corrupt regime. It was the day we Filipinos succeeded in overthrowing the dictatorship that threatened the freedom and democracy our forefathers fought hundreds of years for.
Who’s to say a single holiday commemorating the moment that changed the trajectory of Philippine history is overindulgent or unnecessary? Does moving forward as a nation entail letting go of our past and everything we’ve learned from it?
No, and the mere fact that we’ve gone through a former president responsible for thousands of deaths and now an administration splitting at the seams—now more than ever should we recall, commemorate, and celebrate a time when such governance was deemed unacceptable to the Filipino people.
