The problem with holiday economics is not the economics; it is the holiday from history that lies, like a snug worm, at the very core of it. The concept of moveable feasts is nothing new; we are, after all, a country steeped in Catholic tradition. But the notion that the most consequential milestones in our history as a nation should be celebrated on the “Monday nearest” the actual date, simply because to do so is convenient and stimulates economic activity, should be reexamined. It trivializes history, and reduces the role of citizens in an emerging democracy to raw consumerism.On Wednesday, Malacañang issued a reminder that June 9, Monday, will be a special non-working holiday, since Independence Day, June 12, falls on a Thursday. “All activities and celebrations in commemoration of Independence Day shall, however, remain to be observed on June 12,” a spokesperson said.
From the perspective of the ordinary Filipino, however, Independence Day this year will be remembered—that, after all, is what commemoration means—on June 9. Official rites will “remain to be observed” (in Malacañang’s stilted language) by the government the following Thursday, but the people the government is supposed to serve will have already marked it three days before.
Unfortunately, legal and legislative fiat exists for this sorry divorce of milestone and meaning. This year’s schedule of regular and special nonworking holidays is outlined in Proclamation 1463, dated Feb. 18, 2008. And Proclamation 1463 is based on Republic Act 9492, signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on July 25, 2007. RA 9492 provides, in part, that certain national holidays shall be observed on the “Monday nearest” the traditional date.
Both the proclamation and the law were welcomed by many businessmen, because they brought some order back into the matter of holidays. After the President’s legitimacy crisis erupted in mid-2005, Malacañang was quick to declare holidays as part of a strategy to defuse political tension or diffuse public outrage. The law and the proclamation allowed businessmen to make plans with greater certainty.
But both measures also made holiday economics permanent. First tried in the early years of the Arroyo administration, the policy of creating long weekends to promote domestic travel or encourage greater spending appears to work well enough; the malls seem even more crowded than usual, the outbound traffic from major urban centers heavier than usual.
But the increase in consumption has come at a steep price: A famously forgiving people have been encouraged—by the government, no less—to become forgetful, unmindful of history, too.
The truth is, it is not the rites, the ritual wreath-laying and flag-raising and speech-making of officialdom that are the true measure of commemoration. It is the officially sanctioned respite from work—the holiday—that creatively disrupts our regular schedule, and reminds us that something is out of the ordinary. Certainly, some of us watch parades or join street demonstrations, but most of us take part in the great holidays simply by taking time off. When we do—well, we believe this is what educators call a teaching moment, when we are predisposed to learn something about our history and about ourselves, on April 9, or Aug. 21, or Nov. 30. Or, indeed, on June 12.
The decision to separate this opportunity from the rites does not only prioritize economic concerns over history’s purposes; it also privileges officialdom over citizenship. The unwritten assumption seems to be: Let the masses enjoy themselves; the important people, anyway, will observe the holidays.
Ironic, isn’t it, that the daughter of the president who moved the celebration of Independence Day from July 4 to the more appropriate June 12 should become the president to decree that the date of independence doesn’t actually matter. Of course it does; only those who do not understand that a nation’s sense of self depends on its collective memory, or those who seek to profit from such a misunderstanding, will think celebrating June 12 on June 9 is a good thing.
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