Oh, those Philippines with their "disruptive last-minute holidays." Yahoo's got an article about how firms in the Philippines are upset with the government flip-flopping about which days to consider national holidays and making decisions at the last minute:

"'A good business environment requires predictability,' The Foreign Chambers of the Philippines said in a statement, as it urged the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to maintain a fixed schedule of holidays.

'The nation's holiday schedule should be fixed in advance and followed without capricious change, as has unfortunately become too frequent a practice in 2005,' the business lobbying group, which represents seven foreign chambers, said in a statement

Conflicting announcements by the government this weekend over whether to declare a public holiday the National Heroes Day -- which fell on a Sunday -- left many people and business houses confused.

On Friday, government said the day after the National Heroes Day will be a working day, but later declared it a holiday.

On Sunday, a last-minute statement said government offices and schools would be closed, but businesses will be opened.

Besides the August 29 holiday declaration, the chamber also cited three other 'disruptive last-minute holidays' on July 25, June 13 and May 2."