Long weekend set for Rizal birthday

Manila, Philippines - While Filipinos will not enjoy a long weekend on Independence Day, the Palace said they would have one for the celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said June 20 would be a non-working holiday as President Aquino saw fit to make the people, especially the youth, remember Rizal and what he had done for the country.

Rizal’s birthday is on June 19, a Sunday, just like today’s Independence Day. But tomorrow will be a normal working day.

The national hero’s birthday will still be

observed on June 19 but Proclamation No. 154 moved the non-working day to the following day as per the request of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

The Aquino administration no longer implements holiday economics, or the practice of moving holidays to the nearest Monday so people could have long weekends, saying workers depending on daily wage as well as business concerns must be considered.

Lavish preparation for Rizal’s birthday

Meanwhile, an exhibit featuring a collection of Rizal in stamps and peso bills was set up at the lobby of the San Fernando City hall in La Union to celebrate the national hero’s 150th birth anniversary.

Old paper bills of P2 and P5 with Rizal’s photo are some of the collections displayed by Mayor Pablo Ortega at the exhibit while Joseph Dumuk, the mayor’s consultant on sports affairs, exhibited his stamp collection of the national hero.

Part of Ortega’s oldest collection are a P2 bill that circulated in 1903 and other bills that came out during the American era up to end of World War II when the P2 peso bill was marked with “victory” after the fall of the Japanese invaders.

“These old paper bills are my collections since my high school days in the 1970s. I started this hobby after my mother started giving me different kinds of currencies during my younger years,” Ortega said.

He said most of his collections were acquired through auctions.

Ortega said he preserved the old bills by inserting them inside a “paper money album” made in Germany. The album has a special kind of plastic intended for paper bill collection.

Dumuk, on the other hand, displayed an old stamp (1861-1961) while the latest was issued on March 12, 1999 after the celebration of the Philippine centennial anniversary.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has also scheduled on June 14 the official launching of the “Lakbay Jose Rizal @ 150” project in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte.

The year-long event - from June 19 (the 150th birth anniversary of the national hero) to June 19, 2012 - is a project of an inter-agency group with the NHCP, Department of Tourism, Heritage Conservation Society, Intramuros Administration, Cebu Pacific, and the National Parks Development Committee.

Dapitan City Vice Mayor Patri Bajamunde-Chan, who chairs the City Heritage Task Force, said the launching rites will be held at the Punto de Desembarco de Rizal in Dapitan’s coastal village of Sta. Cruz where four boat-riding Spanish soldiers, led by Capt. Delgras, saw Rizal disembark at 7 p.m. on July 17, 1892 and, using Farol de Combate, took him to Casa Real where he was presented to district military governor Don Ricardo Cenicero before he began his four-year exile. - Aurea Calica, Jun Elias, J. Antonio Rimando