Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero clarified on Saturday, Aug. 10 that there are currently no plans to trim down the existing number of holidays in the country, or that it is a priority of the Senate. 

"Ang polisiya ng Senado ay huwag nang dagdagan, hindi naman bawasan (The Senate's policy is to not add more holidays, and not to lessen either)," Escudero said in a radio interview on DWIZ.

"Huwag nang dagdagan pa at i-rationalize na 'yan (Let’s not add holidays and rationalize the existing ones)," he added.

Escudero said this in response to various criticisms his previous statement received wherein he said they would limit local bills' approval on holidays. 

In the interview, the Senate leader cited a study that cited the number of holidays as one of the reasons why India surpassed the Philippines in being number one in the world when it comes to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

According to Escudero, there are currently 24 to 25 holidays in the Philippines in a year, excluding work suspensions due to inclement weather conditions.

"Kung 22 araw lang ang trabaho sa isang buwan, eh di parang may isang buong buwan na hindi nagtratrabaho ang manggagawa (If there are only 22 working days in a month, it's like an employee will not work for a whole month)," he said.

"Layunin lang namin na maging mas competitive ang Pilipinas (Our only goal is to make the Philippines more competitive)," he added.

Escudero also says that this matter is not a priority now of the Senate.

"Paano mo naman tatanggalin yung mga holiday na nakasanayan na? Mahabang proseso yun. Di kakayanin yan ng kasalukuyang Kongreso (How would you remove holidays that people are already used to? That's a lengthy process. The current Congress cannot handle that)," he said.