by Excelsis Angel Ilagan

Filipino time refers to the practice of an individual arriving late in events. Not many are aware, for instance, that not everything in the Philippines runs on Filipino time. Nearly all the country’s professional theater companies start their shows on the dot, a practice now established enough in the local theater community as to have become unremarkable, even expected. Among the lot of performing artists, at least, it’s considered a high mark of unprofessionalism and lack of commitment to arrive for rehearsals late, or defy one’s call time, or be tangled up in traffic and other sundry hurdles even as the lights are dimming and the curtain gets ready to rise.
Jose Rizal also mentioned in his novels titled Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo how Spanish people gave importance in their position by arriving late in any occassion. One good example is the Gobernador heneral who always arrives late in any event.
However, De Viana said that the negative connotation of Filipino Time has never been a part of the nation’s culture. She said that this concept started during the Spanish colonization in the Philippines wherein they often have their banquet and Spanish people always arrive late in the reception. Because of this, filipinos always believed that the one who arrives late, is the one who’s worth the wait.
During the American colonial period, they noticed that Filipinos always arrive late and that’s when they started calling it ‘Filipino time’ meaning, they give more importance to theirself than in time and in the people who wait for them.
With the enactment of Republic Act 10535, the campaign for punctuality may finally get off the ground. RA 10535 requires not only government offices but also private television and radio stations to calibrate and synchronize their time devices with the Philippine Standard Time. The public can then