ASEAN DAY (August 8): Towards a "One Caring and Sharing Community" by 2015

Over the years, our Christian-influenced holidays got added up—rightly so—with Muslim holy days. The more, the merrier, of course.
Except for our corporate and business employers who dread the thought of added holiday pay for employees and humble workers like us.
In Europe, the trend has been to cut down on work hours and work days. That's one reason shopping malls in Germany or France, for example, close early at around 7pm or even 6pm. There's not much night life there, except for the real night outs like bars and clubs or a football match.
You know, the mantra, "Work-Life Balance." In the Philippines, this is akin to GMA's "Holiday Economics."
You don't live to work; you work to help you lead a good and fruitful life.
And here's more good news! One more day will soon be a holiday: every August 8 as ASEAN Day.
An ASEAN Day is one of the highlights of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held on July 29 to August 2, 2007, in Manila. Below is the AMM's joint statement:
"Joint Statement of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers on the Observance of ASEAN Day, Manila, 30 July 2007"
"We, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers discussed the importance of building an ASEAN identity, promoting ASEAN awareness and bringing ASEAN into the consciousness of its people."
"We recognized the significant achievements of ASEAN over the last forty years. We also acknowledged that the active participation and support of the ASEAN people would be necessary and essential to the continuing and strengthening of ASEAN solidarity, friendship, and cooperation towards building an ASEAN Community by 2015.
"We agreed that the observance of ASEAN Day every 8th Day of August as a special day in all ASEAN Member Countries would significantly increase awareness and consciousness of ASEAN, as well as promote and establish an ASEAN identity, across the region. This region-wide celebration would stimulate 'Think, Feel and Act ASEAN' activities and programmes.
"We further agreed to recommend to the Leaders during the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore on 20 November 2007 to endorse the observance of ASEAN Day as a special day in all ASEAN Member Countries."
For sure, the importance of ASEAN Day as expressed in the AMM's joint statement far exceeds mere "Holiday Economics." ASEAN Day goes deeper, into our own individual identities as belonging to a bigger community that, to borrow from Malaysia's popular tourism campaign, is "truly Asia."
Hence, PGMA need not wait for November to declare August 8 a special holiday. Here and now, she can issue a Presidential Proclamation for the Philippines to celebrate ASEAN Day this August 8, which is also the 40th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN.
Indeed, the theme for this year's various events across the 10 Member States of ASEAN is "One ASEAN at the Heart of Dynamic Asia"
By all means, "Think, Feel and Act ASEAN."