ICYMI: December 8 is now a Special Non-Working Holiday

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Reserve your VLs for another official holiday this December!

Thanks to Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Rodolfo C. Fariñas, all of the Philippine Islands gets another official holiday for every year. After the Death Penalty Bill was junked, the House of Representatives unanimously passed on the third and final reading on House Bill 5241 for this holiday.

Parishes before may have celebrated this day for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary with a few less patrons because of working days, but say no more. In fact, this 2017, it’s December 8’s a Friday so we’d all get a long weekend for this proclamation.

This bill will allow the faithful to commemorate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, as it is one of the most prominent and highly observed in a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines. Also, “December 8 was declared a holy day of obligation by Pope Clement XI in 1708 for Catholics all over the world, in honor of the holiness and purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, says Fariñas in his explanatory note for the bill.

Prior to this holiday, these areas had December 8 as a special non-working holiday as they celebrate their Foundation Day: