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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 Sept) — President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Monday, September 12 a regular holiday nationwide in observance of Eid’l Adha (Islamic Feast of Sacrifice).
The declaration was made under Proclamation No.
56, signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Sept. 5.
Republic Act No. 9849 which was signed into law on December 11, 2009 under Presdient Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared Eid’l Adha as a national holiday but with a “movable date,” depending on the sighting of the moon.
The law provides that the implementation shall be supervised by the Office on Muslim Affairs (now National Commission on Muslim Filipinos).
The declaration of Sept. 12 as a national holiday is in line with the recommendation of the NCMF, Proclamation 56 said.
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)
