Malacañang on Tuesday declared Sept. 1, Friday as a regular holiday throughout the Philippines in observance of Eid’l Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice.
In his Proclamation No. 297 signed Tuesday, Aug. 29— President Rodrigo Duterte declared this year’s celebration of the Islamic feast as a regular holiday, upon the recommendation of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.
As the holiday falls on Friday, it means that Filipinos will have another long weekend after Ninoy Aquino Day last Aug. 21 and the National Heroes’ Day recently celebrated last Aug. 28.
Eid al-Adha commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened and provided him with a sheep to sacrifice instead.
Eid’l Adha, which has been a public holiday since 2002 in the country, is one of the two greatest feasts of Islam—the other being Eid’l Fitr or the Feast of Ramadan, which was also declared as a regular holiday on June 26.
Republic Act 9849 states that Eid’l Adha, one of the Islam’s two major feasts along with Eid’l Fitr, shall be celebrated as a regular holiday.
Meanwhile, Manila Police District policemen recently arrested four suspects after they duped around 200 Muslims into paying thousands of pesos for fake discounted trips for the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, through alleged connections in Malacañang.
Facing charges of large scale estafa are Usman Adiltah, Salama Debarosan, Sheik Muhammad Imamando and Alma Carreon, who introduced herself as someone from Malacañang.
The four suspects offered pilgrimage trips at P75,000 each when it is usually priced at P200,000.
The suspects said they have connections in Malacanang who were supposedly shouldering the rest of the cost.
The victims, who went to Manila from Mindanao, reported the matter to the MPD after the suspects failed to deliver the trips to Mecca.
MPD said they will be filing criminal charges against the four suspects.