MANILA, October 7, 2012-Senator Loren Legarda recently filed a bill to declare Chinese New Year as a special working Holiday in the Philippines.
“The Filipino-Chinese have played a key role in the economic and cultural development of the Philippines. This bill seeks to recognize the immeasurable contribution of the Filipino Chinese community in our country and strengthen the Filipino-Chinese amity by declaring the day on which the Chinese New Year falls each year as a special working Holiday throughout the entire Philippines,” she explained.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, noted that at present, the ethnic Chinese and the Filipinos with Chinese ancestry make up about 1.3% and 22%, respectively of the country’s population.
“Their known acumen in entrepreneurship and solidarity with their host country—as expressed in their volunteer organizations, have continued to strengthen ties among various communities,” she remarked.
“Given the commercial and cultural linkages that have been forged between Filipinos and Chinese, it is fitting that we declare Chinese New Year as a special working Holiday,” Legarda stressed.
The Senator has been seeking ways to “find unity among diversity” especially among Filipinos who have different culture, beliefs, and groups. She authored the Eid’l Fitr Holiday Law which decreed that the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar be made into a national holiday for the observance of Eid’l Fitr.
Last month, Legarda also filed a bill declaring the first week of February as “World Interfaith Harmony Week” in the Philippines, which aims to build genuine understanding among people of different faiths and belief systems.
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