Palace suspends govt work for Holy Week exodus

Malacañang suspended work in all government offices beginning Wednesday noon to give workers ample time to prepare for the observance of Holy Week.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, by authority of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., signed Memorandum Circular 16 suspending government work.

“To provide government employees full opportunity to properly observe 06-07 April 2023, regular holidays, and to allow them to travel to and from the different regions in the country, work in government offices on 05 April 2023 is hereby suspended from 12:00 o'clock in the afternoon onwards,” the circular read.

Bersamin, however, said agencies whose functions involve the delivery of basic and health services, preparedness/response to disasters and calamities, and/or the performance of other vital services must continue with their operations and render the necessary services.

Meanwhile, the suspension of work in private companies and offices is left to the sound discretion of their respective employers.

This circular, which was released to the public on Friday, shall take effect immediately.

Malacañang earlier declared April 6 and 7 as regular holidays in observance of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Bataan on Friday, Marcos assured the public that the government is prepared for the coming Holy Week.

He said the government needs additional preparation for the heat of the Holy Week.

“We have been preparing already for a while, but nadagdagan lang yung ating preparasyon dahil biglang uminit (we just had to add to our preparations because it suddenly became hot),” he said.

Despite this, the President assured the public that everything was in place.

“We have to make everybody– make sure that everybody's comfortable that they can get to where they want as quickly as possible,” he said.

“Sa palagay ko naman nakahanda naman kami (I think we're prepared),” the President added.