DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 July) — President Rodrigo Duterte has issued Proclamation 985 declaring Friday, July 31, a regular holiday nationwide in observance of Eid’l Adha (Islamic Feast of Sacrifice).
The proclamation, signed July 29, is based on Republic Act No. 9849 which was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on December 11, 2009, declaring Eid’l Adha a national holiday but with a “movable date.”
The law provides that the implementation shall be supervised by the Office on Muslim Affairs (now National Commission on Muslim Filipinos or NCMF) and that if it falls on a Sunday “the holiday will be observed on the Monday that follows.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s observance of Eid’l Adha, according to Duterte’s Proclamation, “shall be subject to existing community quarantine and social distancing measures.”
Eid’l Adha is one of Islam’s two major festivals celebrated by 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. It is celebrated yearly to mark the end of Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca and to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham among Christians) act of sacrificing his eldest son, Ishmael. God spared the boy’s life and instead gave Abraham a lamb to sacrifice.
Worldwide, Eid’l Adha is observed through a gathering of the Islamic community in prayer, and sacrificing a lamb or goat and distributing its meat to family, friends and relatives, particularly the poor. (MindaNews)
