House OKs bill declaring national election day a regular holiday

MANILA, Philippines, August 4 ------ To boost voter turnout, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to declare every national election a regular non-working holiday.

House Bill No. 8187 seeks to amend the Administrative Code of 1987, which currently enumerates only 12 regular holidays and two special days. In past national elections, Philippine presidents had to issue proclamations to make voting day a special, non-working holiday.

“The right to suffrage is guaranteed by our Constitution and we want to value and protect this right by making sure that voters would no longer worry about missing work,” House Speaker Martin Romualdez said in a statement.

Source: rappler.com