January 2 declared a holiday in the Philippines

As part of the Arroyo administration’s “holiday economics”, the Office of the President on Wednesday declared January 2, 2009 as a non-working holiday.
Proclamation No. 1695, signed by President Arroyo Wednesday, described January 2 as "additional special (non-working) day throughout the country."

The president said that the longer weekend "encourages families to get together and strengthen their relationship towards a more productive environment, as well as promotes domestic tourism and enables employers to plan their work schedules effectively and efficiently, resulting in improved productivity."

January 2 is sandwiched between New Year's Day and a Saturday, a holiday.
The announcement means that workers will return to work on January 5, instead of January 2. All financial markets will reopen on January 5 after an 11-day holiday that starts on Christmas day, December 25.

This is good news for employees who plan to go out of town but some business firms have been complaining of higher labor costs caused by holiday economics. However, for call center agents like me, this will have not much impact. I still need to report to work on January 2:(