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Marcos declares INC anniversary as special non-working day in 2025
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared the founding anniversary of religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) on July 27, 2025, which falls on a Sunday, as a special non-working day nationwide, Malacañang said on Thursday, October 31.
The Presidential Communications Office said the President issued Proclamation 729 for this purpose. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed the proclamation on October 30, and Malacañang released it on Thursday.
“Whereas, in order to give the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo the full opportunity to participate in the occasion, 27, July 2025, Sunday, may be declared as a special (non-working) day throughout the country,” the President said in issuing Proclamation 729.
The INC endorsed Marcos when he ran for vice president in 2016, and in his presidential bid in 2022. It will mark its 111th founding anniversary next year.
There are pending Senate bills seeking to declare the INC’s founding anniversary as either a special working holiday or a special non-working holiday. Every election, many politicians woo the influential religious for endorsement because they are known for “bloc voting” which, the INC believes, reflects the Bible’s teachings.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority Report on Religious Affiliation in its 2020 Census of Population and Housing, the INC is the third largest religious affinity in the country with over 2.8 million members. – Rappler.com