Marian holidays in the Philippines
Marian holidays were already held decades ago in the Philippines. CEBUpedia reprints the presidential proclamation issued in 1954:
“BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
PROCLAMATION NO. 95
DECLARING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1954, AS A SPECIAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN THE PROVINCE AND CITY OF CEBU
On the occasion of the Marian Congress in the Province and city of Cebu, I Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines, pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 30 of the Revised Administrative Code, do hereby declare Saturday, November 27, 1954, as a special public holiday in those places.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.
Done in the City of Manila, this 23rd day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-four, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the ninth.
RAMON MAGSAYSAY
President of the Philippines
By the President:
Fred Ruiz Castro
Executive Secretary”
(Note: Fred Ruiz Castro years later became chief justice of the Supreme Court from January 5, 1976 up to April 9, 1979. He also served as a lieutenant in the Philippine Army when World War II broke out. He was a recipient of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa from Southwestern University in Cebu City)
In recent years, the Philippine Congress enacted laws to commemorate Marian days as holidays. Under Republic Act 10966 enacted on July 24, 2017 and approved on December 23, 2017 every December 8 is declared as a non-working holiday. The law was made to commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Principal Patroness of the Philippines.
Another law, Republic Act 11370 enacted on July 23, 2018 declared every September 8 as Special Working Holiday to commemorate as the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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