Duterte declares May 13 special non-working holiday for 2019 polls

President Rodrigo Duterte declared May 13 a special non-working holiday to allow Filipinos to vote in the 2019 midterm elections.

Duterte signed Proclamation 719 on Thursday.

Around 61 million Filipinos are expected to vote for several elective positions from senator to municipal councilor. The voting will be held inside thousands of polling precincts nationwide.

While Duterte’s name is not on the ballot, analysts have viewed the midterm elections as a referendum on the administration and a litmus test for the chief executive’s popularity which bounced back to a personal high in March. —Virgil Lopez/KBK, GMA News