By Hannah Torregoza Some senators have expressed concern over the increasing number of local holidays that are being approved by Congress, saying there should be a mechanism rationalizing such proposals emanating from the House of Representatives. Among the senators who noticed this were Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, both of whom voiced their concern during the interpellation for House Bill No. 5563 which seeks to declare August 21 of every year as a special non-working holiday in Orani, Bataan. The Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, is the sponsor of the bill. “Just for the record, we should take note of the fact that we have national holidays. How many are these? I have lost count — which is observed all over the country!” Drilon pointed out during the interpellation of the bill on Wednesday. “And then we have foundation day for the province. So the foundation day for the province is already one more. And then the foundation day for the province would also include all the municipalities in that province and all cities,” he said. “And then in addition you would have foundation day for the municipalities,” he said. Drilon said he sees the need for the Senate committee to come up with some standards to ensure that the approval of local holidays is not “done on the whim and caprice of the original proponent of the measure.” “So this is something that we must rationalize, Mr. President, because I don’t think it is good for our economy that we have this kind of a system and therefore there is really a need for us to have at least a standard that the committee will follow,” Drilon pressed. Lacson said he too is concerned over the issues raised by Drilon and said he “would like to derail passage” of the said House measure “until the next holiday to be legislated” until there is enough data presented to the Upper Chamber.