May 21–23 – Six terrorists hijack a Philippine Airlines plane, which lands later on the Zamboanga Airport; hostage crisis ends on May 23 as they explode a plane and a shootout followed, killing 3 of them as well as 10 passengers.[2]
August
August 17 – The Moro Gulf earthquake take place near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu, in the Philippines. The magnitude was calculated as being as high as 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale. According to reports, the earthquake was recorded around 16:10 UTC.[3] At least 5,000 people died during the earthquake followed by tsunami.[4][1]
As per Act No. 2711 section 29,[5] issued on March 10, 1917, any legal holiday of fixed date falls on Sunday, the next succeeding day shall be observed as legal holiday. Sundays are also considered legal religious holidays. Bonifacio Day was added through Philippine Legislature Act No. 2946. It was signed by then-Governor General Francis Burton Harrison in 1921.[6] On October 28, 1931, the Act No. 3827 was approved declaring the last Sunday of August as National Heroes Day.[7] As per Republic Act No. 3022,[8] April 9th was proclaimed as Bataan Day. Independence Day was changed from July 4 (Philippine Republic Day) to June 12 (Philippine Independence Day) on August 4, 1964.[9]
July 17–August 1 – The Philippines competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. The country sends only eleven athletes to Montreal, its smallest delegation since 1932, to compete in track and field, boxing, shooting, swimming and weightlifting.