July 29 declared a nat’l holiday in observance of Eid’l Fitr

(Updated 4:33 p.m.) Malacañang has declared July 29 this year as a national holiday in observance of Eid'l Fitr.

The declaration was made by President Benigno Aquino III through Proclamation No. 826. The proclamation, dated July 10, was signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

"To promote cultural understanding and integration, the entire Filipino nation should have the full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sisters in the observance and celebration of Eid'l Fitr," the proclamation read.

Eid'l Fitr, the end of Ramadhan fasting, was declared a holiday to "bring religious and cultural significance" to the Muslim celebration, Malacañang added.

Eid'l Fitr is celebrated by the Muslim world for three days after the end of the month of fasting.

Republic Act 9177 mandates the government to declare this Muslim celebration a national holiday.

The observance of Eid'l Fitr this year will fall a day after Aquino delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address before Congress on July 28.

Moonsighting committee

The determination of the date of Eid'l Fitr in the Philippines is the task of the "moonsighting committee" of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos. This committee said in a post on the website of the NCMF that "the moon has not been sighted anywhere in the Philippines on the first day of Ramadan." 

According to NCMF's Bong Radzak, project director of the celebration of the 811th Year of Islam in the Philippines, cloudy weather conditions hindered the sighting of the moon on the first day of Ramadan.

Although the end of new moon phase after June 29 falls on July 28, the official end of Ramadan was set the day after, or July 29, to complete the 30-day cycle that complete a month. According to the PAGASA astronomical diary, the new moon phase on July 27 starts at 6:47 p.m.

Radzak said in a phone interview with GMA News Online that the setting of Islamic religious dates and related important matters is the work of the moonsighting committee and of the council of elders known as the Darul-ifta, which he said has members from other countries in Southeast Asia.

He also explained that the Islamic dates-setting practices in the Philippines are consistent with the practices of other bodies around the world, but there are date and time differences because of the relative location of the Philippines on the globe.

Relatedly, the Supreme Judicial Council of Saudi Arabia decided that "all dates during the current month of Ramadan (as observed in Saudi Arabia) will be postponed by one day," according to the Mathematical Institute of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, which maintains a website dedicated to the Islamic calendar.

"Many Muslim communities in non-Islamic countries also tend to follow the Umm al-Qura calendar as its use in mosques funded by Saudi Arabia and in modern computer software (it is the default Islamic calendar in the Arabic setting of Microsoft Vista) becomes more and more prevalent," the institute said.

The institute added that "the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) have announced in the recent past that they will also follow the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia."

A program to celebrate the 811th year of Islam in the Philippines will be held on July 30 in Rodriguez, Rizal. —Andreo Calonzo and Earl Rosero/KBK, GMA News