Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero inspects the final touches of the senate plenary hall on July 19, 2024, days days before the opening of the third regular session of the 19th congress on  July 22. Angie de Silva, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA — Senate President Francis Escudero clarified Monday that the Senate is not pushing for reducing the number of holidays in the country.

"Walang issue sa holidays. Ang polisiya ng Senado, huwag nang dagdagan yung mga holiday natin ngayon dahil sobrang dami na pero wala kaming balak bawasan," Escudero said. 

• Senate chief on holidays: 'Wag na nating dagdagan'

Escudero noted that the number of national and local holidays in the country has reached 21 and more will be added if they approve bills for such purpose.

"Kasi tingnan mo, 21 holidays. There’s at least one holiday per municipality. We’re granting holidays in provinces that don’t have a holiday yet. Pero kapag meron na huwag na ngang dagdagan. Sa araw na ito, tatlo ang aaprubahan naming bill na naglalayong magkaroon ng holiday sa tatlong probinsiya. Yung isa hindi namin pinayagan dahil may dalawa na siyang provincial holiday," Escudero said.

"So, dun nag-aapply, ito yung maliwanag na ebidensiya na huwag nang dagdagan pero ‘wag bawasan," he added.

Escudero said that the so-called holiday economics scheme wherein holidays are adjusted to the nearest weekend actually adds more holidays.

"Tapos idagdag mo pa yung holiday economics na kapag may na-sandwich, may naipit, idedeklara ng presidenteng holiday pa. So we’re talking 23 to 25 days of holidays already, nearly a month actually," he said.

Escudero conceded there is a discussion on consolidating several holidays into one but he doesn't expect that to be resolved anytime soon.

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