MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has denied Naga City's request to make Aug. 18, 2023 as a special non-working day in their city to commemorate the death anniversary of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

In a response dated Aug. 17, 2023, Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Anna Liza Logan said the country already has Republic Act No. 10669, which declares every Aug. 18 as a special working holiday or "Jesse Robredo Day."

Under the law, Jesse Robredo Day is to be celebrated in all elementary and secondary schools to let students remember and continue Robredo's "legacy of good governance and leadership."

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"Given that there is already a legislative enactment, this Office is constrained to deny your request," Logan said in a letter to Naga Mayor Nelson Legacion, who made the request on Aug. 10, 2023.

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Office recognizes the importance of the commemoration of the Death Anniversary of Jesse M. Robredo to the people of Naga City," she added.

Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil confirmed to Palace reporters that the Office of the President (OP) denied the mayor's request.

"The OP followed the law which provided for a special working day," Garafil said.

The former interior secretary and and Naga City mayor was the husband of former Vice-President Leni Robredo, the closest rival of Marcos, Jr. in the 2022 elections.

Previously, however, Malacañang approved requests declaring Aug. 18 a special non-working day in Naga so the residents there could honor his memory.

Jesse was a 3-term mayor of Naga City, during which he instituted a merit-based system of hiring and promoting government employees, cleaned up local vice lords, organized roads to end gridlocks, and spurred new enterprises at the city's edges.

Known for wearing slippers and shirts, Jesse won the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, Asia's highest honor and version of the Nobel Prize, for his leadership of Naga.

He served as interior secretary under former president Benigno Aquino III. Jesse died on his way home to Naga on Aug. 18, 2012, when the Piper Seneca plane carrying him suffered engine failure and crashed off the Masbate coast.

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Philippines is commemorating his 11th death anniversary today. Robredo paid tribute to her husband in a Facebook post earlier in the day.

"Thank you to everyone who continue to keep him in your prayers," the former vice president said.

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