Philippine Holidays 2021

The Official Gazette of the Philippines releases an official list of regular and special non-working holidays of the following year before the current fiscal year ends. Most regular Philippine holidays have fixed dates while others depend on religious observation. This article features the list of holidays for the year 2020. Take note that these dates may move depending on the declaration by the President, as per Republic Act 9492.

Every year, Filipino employees and employers alike, look out for the list of official Philippine holidays for the upcoming year. Once the dates are finalized, employees will start to plan their leaves and employers will start to schedule shift rosters (where applicable). 

Pay attention to the long weekends that are created as a result of the holidays – staff will try and optimize these wherever possible. Also, bear in mind that additional localized holidays (ie Manila Day, Quezon City Day) can appear in the calendar, as well as some impromptu holidays when considered appropriate by the President.

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Complete list of Philippine holidays 2021

* The dates of Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha are to be announced and confirmed in accordance with the approximate dates set by the Islamic calendar.

National holidays in the Philippines for 2021

Regular holidays

Regular Holidays are holidays which mostly have fixed dates, as indicated in RA 9492.

There are 13 regular holidays in the Philippines:

* The dates of Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha are to be announced and confirmed in accordance with the approximate dates set by the Islamic calendar.

Special non-working holidays

Unlike regular holidays, special non-working holidays have flexible dates, depending on the Presidential Declaration released for each year. These are:

Special days

These holidays may or may not be declared a non-working holiday, depending on the Presidential Declaration, or in some cases, maybe applicable to Government offices, such as:

Local holidays – Manila Day, Quezon City Day

Local cities and municipalities may as well declare holidays based on their foundation dates. For instance, June 24 may be declared Manila Day (Araw ng Maynila), August 19 as Quezon City Day, and so on.

These holidays are subject to declaration by the President as well, as indicated in RA 9492, and considered as a special non-working holiday for both schools, government offices, and some corporate businesses in a specific city or municipality. However, most companies, including BPOs, are not affected by this holiday.

Long weekends in the Philippines 2021

Unlike last year, many holidays have been moved to either Thursday or Saturday. Two of these, fortunately, have been moved to Monday. With this, employees may still get a fair amount of long weekends they can spend on doing activities with their friends and loved ones.

Two of the most important holidays in the country (Holy Week and the last week of December which includes Rizal Day and New Year’s Eve) are the longest ones this year, covering almost a whole week. For holidays placed on Thursdays, employees may use their leave credits for their rest and recreation.

Holy week 2021

Christmas weekend 2021

New Year weekend

Three-day weekends 2021

Holiday pay, bonuses, and other benefits

Depending on the company or the office’s nature of the business, employees may be required to render work on holidays. This is the usual instance in malls, BPOs, media outlets, and several public service offices such as police stations, hospitals, and disaster risk management offices. 

Good thing is, alongside their rendered work, employees may be paid for their services during these holidays. Especially in the BPO Industry where they usually follow their client’s timezone, mostly in the US, UK, and Australia. They provide these bonuses and incentives as a thank-you for their employees who render work on a PH holiday

Regular working holidays – compensation and pay rules

For regular holidays, employees are paid 200% of their daily rate and cost of living allowance. If the employee decides not to work during these days, they will still be paid 100% of their daily rate for that day. 

Non-working holidays – compensation and pay rules

For non-working holidays, employees are paid at least 130% of their daily rate and cost of living allowance. Local holidays have the same rate as non-working holidays.

However, if the employee decides not to work on these days, a ‘no work, no pay’ policy shall be implemented unless a company policy, practice, or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) granting payment within these days is in effect.

Overtime during holidays

Once an employee’s rendered work exceeds eight hours on a holiday, an additional 30% of their hourly rate shall be applied on top of their holiday pay, whether it’s a regular (200%) or special non-working (130%) holiday. This is usually the case for most employees within the outsourcing industry since their schedule adheres to their clients’ timezone. (US, UK, Australia, etc.)

Night differential during holidays

Employees are also entitled to night differentials of not less than 10% of their hourly rate for working from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am on top of their holiday pay, whether it’s a regular (200%) or special non-working (130%) holiday.

Offset credits for Philippine holidays

In some offices, employees may have additional offset credit in exchange for rendering work during holidays. Filing for offset means they can exchange regular working days for additional rest days.

This works like the usual leave credit. The only difference is offset credits are not convertible to cash, unlike vacation or sick leave, and must be consumed by the employee within a specific duration. Else, it will expire, unlike vacation or sick leave that doesn’t have an expiration and is convertible to cash (sick leave) after a year or so.

Such as the case in the BPO sector. Since the clients have different timezone from the Philippines, offices are still operating even in non-working holidays (Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, etc.) to serve their clients. Thus, employees who work during these days are given the chance to choose their preferred date/s for offset to make it up for their vacation.

13th month pay and Christmas bonuses

As mentioned earlier, Christmas is one of the most important holidays in the country. It is the time of parties, gift-giving, and the time when Filipinos spend most of the holiday with their families. It is also the time where they receive the much-awaited bonuses of the year: the 13th Month and the Christmas Bonus.

13th month computation

13th-month pays are usually equivalent to a month worth of employee’s salary or its equivalent prorated amount, depending on their length of tenure in the company.

As an example, we have provided a 13th month computation table for an employee receiving PHP20,000 basic monthly salary.

*13th month pay = (basic pay * length of tenure) / 12

Giving of 13th-month pay is mandatory, as indicated in the Labor Code of the Philippines, on or before the 24th of December of the current year. Failure to give 13th-month pay to qualified employees may result in administrative charges filed against the company through the Department of Labor and Employment.

On the other hand, Christmas bonuses are optional. Most companies give performance-based bonuses to employees as a thank-you for their hard work and look forward to strengthening their relationship with the company for the next year.

2021 holiday calendar Philippines

These are the holidays usually observed in the Philippines and the upcoming holidays in 2020. This may serve as a guide for foreign and local businesses, as well as employees and freelancers alike in planning their schedules and business transactions in the Philippines. The list may be subject to change, depending on the local government of each municipality and further declarations.

In many BPO companies, employees follow the national holidays of their clients instead. Good thing Filipinos are time-flexible. They can make their time fit the company’s schedule to be able to give their services to their clients more and drive satisfaction to them.