December 2 2015 declared a holiday in Pasay City

Pasay City will be celebrating its 152nd foundation anniversary this December 2, Wednesday. The day is a special non-working holiday in the city as ordered by President Benigno Aquino III through Proclamation 1168, which was signed last November 24. Read the full text of Proclamation 1168 here.

According to a brief history posted on the city government’s official website, there exists various explanations as to where the name “Pasay” came from. According to one folk tale, the city’s modern name came from Dayang-dayang Pasay, a princess who lived during the time of Kingdom of Namayan. Apart from Pasay, Makati, San Juan, Mandaluyong, and a huge part of Manila is also said to have been under this kingdom.

Pasay became a pueblo on December 2, 1863 as proposed by Archbishop Gregorio Martinez of Sta. Cruz. We now refer to a pueblo as a town or municipality. It was led by a gobernadorcillo, the present-day equivalent of a municipal mayor.

This is in response to a petition initiated by several prominent citizens of Pasay sent to civil and ecclesiastical authorities which asks that they be allowed to manage their own political and religious affairs. Martinez is immortalized in Philippine history for his steadfast refusal to defrock the three martyred priests, Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, after they were wrongly accused and eventually executed because of rebellion.

The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Handbook on Workers’ Statutory Monetary Benefits (2014 edition) stresses that “workers who are not required or permitted to work on special days are not entitled to any compensation” unless there is an existing company policy or a collective bargaining agreement that says otherwise. The handbook can be read here (proceed to page 16).

Meanwhile, those that will be reporting for work on this day  should get an additional compensation of at least thirty percent (30%) of their basic pay for a total of one hundred thirty percent (130%).