N.B. – This was published in Asian Correspondent (December 28, 9:00 p.m.) where I write a weekly column (“Philippine Fantasy”).

Is there reason to be excited about the proposed Philippine Standard Time Act of 2009? Can it really cure the problem of “Filipino time”? Should the world expect, at long last, that Filipinos will not be notoriously late anymore?

House Bill No. 6905 was reportedly approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives and was consequently transmitted to the Senate for plenary action. According to its abstract, the proposed law aims to “(set) the Philippine Standard Time (PST) in all official sources thoughout the country; (to) provide funds for the installation, operation and maintenancee (sic) of sychronized time devices to be displayed in key public places(;) and (to) declare first week of every year as `National Time Consciousness Week.'”

Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo (2nd district, Valenzuela City), the House bill’s principal author, says that the bill will compel all national and local government offices to “display the PST on their official time devices, including bundy clocks, in accordance with the official time provided by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) using its network time protocol.”

An established PST, Gunigundo adds, can run air, land and sea transportation lines and develop appreciation of punctuality and practice the use of time wisely to be more productive at home, school and the workplace.

At the Philippine Senate, Sen. Edgardo Angara filed Senate Bill No. 3479 which is essentially the same as the Gunigundo bill. “This is a good way to start changing the meaning of ‘Filipino time’ and shifting to a culture of punctuality. Filipinos have often been accused of tardiness, that anything we do is always delayed and we never follow schedules on time. We should start dispelling that by making the change ourselves and breeding a new culture of promptness,” Angara argues in a statement.

Aside from the synchronization of time in government offices, the Senate and House bills also seek to do the following:

1. Provide funds for the installation, operation and maintenance of synchronized time devices to be displayed in key public places.
2. Require PAGASA’s Time Service Unit, in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), to monitor, maintain and disseminate the PST throughout the country.
3. Mandate the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to require the participation of all government and private television and radio stations to ensure that synchronization can be undertaken even in remote parts of the country.
4. Allow the NTC and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to impose sanctions on the head of government radio and TV stations and heads of national government offices for non-compliance with the time synchronization and other provisions of the Act.
5. Institutionalize a “National Time Consciousness Week” which shall be celebrated every first week of the year.

The PST may be accessed through PAG-ASA’s official website. As of this writing, one cannot know the actual time online because of what PAGASA describes as “some technical problems due to server maintenance.” It’s possible, however, for one to call the advertised number and ask about the actual time in the Philippines.

While there is no debate that punctuality generally helps in increasing productivity, one fails to see the connection between time synchronization and better time management.

Being aware of the time does not ensure punctuality for the simple reason that there is no efficiency in the country’s physical infrastructure, especially with regard to transportation and communication. Problems in the government bureaucracy also affect public service.

How can a person who takes public transportation, for example, be expected to manage his or her time effectively if buses and trains do not have exact times of arrival to and departure from the designated stations? If a person decides to take a taxi, can he or she immediately avail of an efficient, trustworthy service? If a person’s mobile phone runs out of battery, for example, can he or she easily have access to a pay phone? And even if he or she has the means to call or send a text message to a government agency, can he or she expect a quick reply?

No less than the Philippine government acknowledges the existence of red tape which, it admits, gives rise to graft and corruption. Despite the passage of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 (Republic Act No. 9485), the bureaucracy still remains graft-ridden.

The situation relates directly to punctuality and efficiency because government corruption feeds on the uncertainty of providing even the most basic of services. People who deal with so-called public servants are sometimes forced, for example, to bribe their way into getting what they need. Even if there is a specific provision in RA 9485 that all government offices and agencies are required to limit a document’s number of signatories to a maximum of five (Sec. 8d), it still cannot be denied that a person still needs to wait for and deal with at most five officials so that he or she could have an important document signed.

While there is no reason to oppose the synchronization of time (one actually wonders why the law is being proposed only now), one cannot expect too much for as long as the physical infrastructure and the government bureaucracy deprive the people of basic services.

The fact that Filipino migrants are able to adjust to the culture of punctuality in other countries shows that tardiness is not cultural but only brought about by the circumstances that do not allow for better time management.

There is no debate that there should be a cure for “Filipino time.” HB 6905 and SB 3479, however, should not be seen as the panacea.