In an ironic twist worthy of a sitcom, a CEO of a research firm and a professor—titans of intellect and critical thought—found themselves in the crosshairs of online ridicule after calling out the Marcos administration for declaring a Sunday a special non-working holiday. 

Their scorching critique of what they deemed as “pointless politicking” was met with an unexpected rebuttal: a glance at the Official Gazette. Surprise! Not one, but two national holidays were declared on Sundays during Duterte’s administration in 2018. The plot thickens.

One can’t help but marvel at the poetic justice of it all: champions of research caught red-handed for failing to do exactly that—research. It’s a classic tale of “glass houses” meets “throwing stones,” reminding us that irony, much like holidays on Sundays, doesn’t discriminate between administrations. 

Perhaps the real special holiday is the one we take from fact-checking before tweeting, right? Malou Tiquia and Anna Malindog-Uy?