Filipino Time

---

Filipino Time is the sociological habit of Filipinos for regularly being late or tardy. Adhering to Filipino Time entails acknowledging that people will most likely show up late for a meeting or event and that one should not expect otherwise. In social situations, some Filipinos either purposefully begin a meeting late or overstate the beginning time of a meeting in order to account for Filipino Time.

History

According to Augusto De Viana, a professor in the UST Department of History, the Filipino Time can be traced back to the Spanish colonial period. During this time, high-ranking Spanish officials would arrive late and would even take pleasure in doing so. For officials, the act of being “fashionably late” elevated their status symbol because all attendants will focus their attention on the latecomer. After a while of encountering their colonizers’ habitual tardiness, the Filipinos started adopting this negative practice. By the time the archipelago became a colony of the Americans, it was the colonizer's turn to suffer under the Filipinos tendency of tardiness. The Americans have also observed that rural Filipinos who grew up relying on the sunrise and sunset showed the same attitude (FilipiKnow, Reggie Sison, & Jr., 2018). The phrase “Filipino Time” was actually pioneered by the Americans around the 1900s. According to Fr. Miguel Bernad (2020), this was due to their irritability towards the lack of punctuality amongst Filipinos. The idea of Filipino Time was even mentioned in Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo, with his writing pointing out that tardiness may even be a status symbol, with whoever is most late being the most important person at the gathering (Tan, 2016).

Traffic

Laziness and a lack of discipline are usually what is attributed to consistent tardiness. However, the social tardiness of Filipinos is not attributed to these as one would come to expect. The high levels of traffic congestion and the unreliability of the public transportation system make it harder for Filipinos to reach their destinations in a timely manner. Whether one is a commuter or a motorist—a few kilometre distances can become an hour-long journey (Tardiness Is Not Always Caused by Laziness, n.d.). According to the 2019 Traffic Index, the Philippines has one of the highest congestion levels worldwide, with 73% on highways and 70% on roads (2020). Traffic has become the agreed-upon reason for Filipinos often being late to meetings and activities; and has become a crucial contributor to the development of the concept of Filipino Time.

Impact

Filipino Time has given Filipinos a bad reputation. Back in the 1950s, President Quirino was to be honoured by Fordham University. He arrived 2 hours late to the ceremony, after the press had already left, and to visibly upset hosts. His tardiness gave many a negative impression on Filipinos. This Filipino brand of tardiness has even made its way to actual schedule concerns. Airline companies often are late and experience many delays. Meetings usually start later than scheduled because Filipinos have gotten accustomed to others coming after time started. (Tan, 2016). While being late isn’t always at the fault of Filipinos, due to traffic and transportation issues previously mentioned, it negatively affects their productivity and branding. Having to constantly adjust tardiness often wastes time that could be used for actual work.

Reference:

References

This article "Filipino Time" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Filipino Time. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---