THE MISCONCEPTION OF THE FILIPINO TIME

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"Filipinos are always late"  But I beg to disagree with this statement. I guess some but not all, maybe sometimes but not definitely all the time.

 

Have you experienced any of the following situations below?

 

a. You were supposed to meet your friends at 8:00 am but you arrived at 9:30.  You thought it’s okay because you expected your friend would be late as well.

b. You lost your company incentive because you arrived late and worse you received memo from HR department.

c. You attended an event (party, graduation, wedding, meeting, concert and etc.) but it started an hour late.

d. You were waiting for a long line when you had a government transaction.  The cashier or the officer just ignored, while others  tried to make face.

e. When you fell in line to pay your grocery or bills at the counter, you got annoyed because it’s very slow.

f. You deposited or withdrew money at the bank but nobody entertained you because some tellers pretended to be busy.

g. You realized it’s been an hour but the food you ordered in the restaurant was not yet served.

 

Each time I meet an investor or foreigners, they always complain about the “Filipino Time” in the Philippines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To my defense, I told them there are many Filipinos who know how to value the time. Not all of them are the same.  In the last three companies that I had worked for, I observed some dedicated employees who arrived at work earlier.   Few of them were even consistent recipient of Early Bird Award.

 

Whenever I receive complaints from foreigners, instead of getting offended by it, I always explain to them the reason why some have this kind of attitude.  It goes down during Spanish era.  As what my history teacher told me during one of his classes, Filipinos were naturally punctual.  Whenever there’s an event, like fiesta in every town or municipal, Filipino audience usually arrived earlier.  However, the leaders at that time, like the Governor-General or the Alcalde Mayor used to arrive late.  Becuase of them, the opening of the occasion was often started beyond the schedule. Since they were powerful, it was okay for them to be late.   As a result, some Filipinos started to come later because they expected that the celebration wouldn’t start as planned.  This mentality has been observed and passed through generation.  

 

In the present time, you will observe this during a political rally, company party or during meetings.  Maybe you’ve noticed that most of our political leaders, the invited guests or person in the higher position is the one who doesn’t usually keep the time.  The ordinary citizens or employees usually come on time; however, some started not to care about being punctual anymore because they expect the person with authority can’t keep the time.  Instead of coming early, they will just wait outside while some will intentionally arrive late.

 

Now going back to my history teacher, he said that “Filipino Time” is a misconception.  It’s not actually our inborn trait but we just acquired it from our foreign colonizers. 

 

To resolve the current “Filipino Time”, our leaders must be the role models and must first keep the time so that others will follow. If there’s a scheduled plan, they must come earlier, and when the agreed time comes, they must start the activity or program even if everybody hasn't arrived yet. If a company president, a principal of the school, and those who are in authoriy will keep the time, then no doubt our mentalily will gradually change when it comes to following the time.

 

As to the foreigners, I always wonder why they are very critical with the time.  Even if you are late for just a minute, it’s already a big deal for them.  I could still remember my Japanese boss when he got mad at me when I was late for five minutes during our meeting.  As to my surprise, he reprimanded my action.  For them being late is like a mortal sin.

 

When I had the opportunity to travel to countries like South Korea and Japan, I got the chance to understand their culture especially on how they value the time.  

 

Let me give you two examples:

 

First, in their country the transport system is very organized and always on time. To say that you are late because of traffic is not an acceptable excuse.  It will only be accepted if the train has a trouble or mechanic problem which rarely happens.   If based from schedule the train arrives at 8:00 o’clock, then you have to be at the station before that time because the train always arrives on time.  If you arrive  even if it's only a minute late, the train won’t wait for you and will just leave to the next station.  If you miss the train, you will be late for work, then you will miss some appointments and won’t be able to do your task according to deadline. 

 

" For them time is money and they don’t want to waste it."

 

Second, when they have an appointment, they always arrive in time.  They think that even arriving on time is not a good idea because in that case, they won’t have time to prepare and get ready with the meeting. 

 

Also, if it’s really inevitable for them to be late from their appointment, they must inform at least an hour in advance, not  a few minutes into the appointment time.

 

 

 

To address this issue, our leaders should be the catalysts for change so others will follow.  But even if you’re not a leader, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t start something good for the society.

 

 

When it comes to foreigners, it is a matter of getting to know each other’s culture.  We better explain each cultural difference and sort out some misunderstanding. 

 

To Filipinos, let’s prove to them that we can keep the time. On the other hand, I hope foreigners can also understand and keep their patience more why our internet and transportation here are very slow.  Our technology is way behind theirs.

 

I hope this article doesn’t offend any culture or anybody.   Its purpose is only to educate and narrow the gap between cultures to better understand one another.

 

 

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