Several Mindanao towns differed on whether to suspend or hold classes for World Teachers’ Day on Monday.
In Talakag, Bukidnon, Mayor Renato Sulatan stood firm in his decision to suspend classes in the municipality for World Teachers’ Day on Monday, making it the only municipality in the province to do so.On his personal social media page, the mayor stated that the break gives students, teachers, and school personnel time to rest, recharge, and celebrate.
Sumo-oy clarified that while a DepEd memorandum maintains regular classes at all levels, local chief executives ‘hold the executive prerogative to declare suspensions.’ He added that the lost school day in Talakag will be replenished during a make-up class scheduled in December at the end of the term block.
But in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Mayor Grace Carmel Paredes-Bravo did not suspend classes for World Teachers’ Day.
Paredes-Bravo also cited RA 10743, noting that Section 1 explicitly classifies the observance as a ‘special working holiday’.
‘This is a national law that cannot be cancelled or overridden by an Executive Order,’ Paredes-Bravo stated in Cebuano. ‘The local government, through the mayor, cannot declare a holiday-whether working or non-working-for the celebration.’
The mayor also cited Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Opinion No. 127, Series of 2022, which affirms that the legal power to declare holidays-working or non-working-is exclusively vested in the President of the Philippines and the Congress of the Philippines. The opinion notes that neither the Local Government Code of 1991 nor other statutes grant local governments the power to declare holidays.
Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur Mayor Frederick Mellana also underscored the same principle, reminding the public that ‘only Congress and the Office of the President can declare holidays.’