Festivals Every year, hundreds of fiestas are celebrated in the Philippines and it's well worth timing your journey to see one of the major ones. It's at these festivals that you get a chance to see legendary Filipino hospitality at its best. The beer flows, pigs are roasted and there's dancing in the streets for days on end. More solemn fiestas, usually religious in nature, are a mixture of devotion, drama, passion and reaffirmation of faith. The crucifixions held every Good Friday in Pampanga draw tourists who come to see penitents being flogged then nailed to a cross. Other major festivals include the Ati-Atihan every third week of January in Kalibo, the Flores de Mayo held throughout May in honour of the Virgin Mary, and the Lanzones festival every October in Camiguin celebrating the island's favourite fruit. Public holidays January 1 New year's Day; February 25 Anniversary of the Overthrow of Marcos (People Power One); April 9 Bataan Day; Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; May 1 labor Day; June 12 Independence Day; November 1 All Saints' Day; November 30 Bonifacio Day; December 16 (moveable) Eid'l Fitr, end of Ramadan; December 25 Christmas Day; December 30 Rizal Day. Useful numbers The 24-hour number for emergency services (police, fire and ambulance) throughout the Philippines is 166. In Manila a new 117 hotline has been opened for all emergencies, manned 24 hours a day by 30 operators. The 117 service is due to be expanded to Cebu and Davao and, by the end of 2003, to all major urban centers nationwide. Others emergency numbers include police and fire (757) and 24-hour tourist police (116).
|
