Bill to curb ‘Filipino time’ filed in Senate

Aiming to cure the Filipino’s culture of tardiness – or “Filipino time" as it is commonly known – a senator has filed a bill that seeks to synchronize all time devices in the country to set a standard Philippine time. Sen. Edgardo Angara said Senate Bill 3479 aims to “breed a new culture of promptness" among Filipinos. "This is a good way to start changing the meaning of 'Filipino time' and shifting to a culture of punctuality. Time is a vital component of our social, legal, political and economic activities," he said. Under the bill, all national and local government offices shall display the Philippine standard time (PST) on their official time devices in accordance with the official time to be provided by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services' Administration (Pagasa). The Pagasa's Time Service Unit will coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to monitor, maintain and disseminate the PST throughout the country. All offices are mandated to coordinate at least once a month with Pagasa to synchronize their official timepieces and devices. A total of P60 million will be appropriated for the acquisition of six units of equipment for automatic dissemination of time with Global Positioning System. The amount shall be included in the annual budget of Pagasa under the DOST for the upgrading and/or maintenance of the timekeeping system. Angara said in most European cities, transportation schedules, business hours, cultural events, hospital operations, and government office hours all adopt a single standard time. The same goes for plazas, public monuments and museums, shops, railway and bus stations, schools, offices and transportation terminals, thus assuring citizens of proper scheduling of their activities' and accuracy in their travel times, he said. - GMANews.TV