The day is a special non-working holiday nationwide as mandated by President Benigno Aquino III’s Proclamation 1105. It is the first nationwide special-non working holiday this 2015. The holiday will give Filipinos a three-day weekend since it falls on Monday.
Proclamation 1105, which lists all nationwide regular and special non-working holidays for this year, was released last August 2015.
In making the holiday proclamation, Aquino noted that the Spring Festival is “one of the most revered and festive events celebrated not only in China but also in the Philippines by both Chinese-Filipinos and ordinary Filipinos as well.”
Chinese New Year was first declared a non-working holiday in 2012 and it now stands as one of the legacies of President Aquino, who has Chinese ancestry from his mother’s side. His predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, only went as far as declaring it a special working day.
