The Real ‘Filipino Time’
(Part 9 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)
FOR anti-Filipinos, the meaning of Filipino time is “always late.” It is said that the Filipino is and will always be late for his appointments. He does not value time. He is never punctual. He wants to be late for gatherings because he likes to get the attention of everyone. He is the one who arrives last; thus, everybody notices him because of his untimely arrival. Are all these negative remarks against us Filipinos true?
Early discipline. Classes in public and private elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools begin at 6:15 a.m. For those in the afternoon shifts, their classes begin at noon.
Morning-shift students wake up before dawn. From the time they get off the bed, they hurry in taking baths or showers, having breakfast, brushing their teeth, and putting on their school attire. It is heartwarming that there are six-year-old Grade One pupils who wake up and take baths or showers that early so that they would not be late for school.
The children do all that to arrive in school before the flag ceremonies, which regularly commence at 6:00 a.m. Those who live in far places wake up earlier to avoid being caught in entangled traffic flows during the morning rush hour.
Most of the teachers and students arrive in schools before 6:00 a.m. For those in the afternoon shifts, they arrive before noon. This is discipline. More than 20 million Filipino students and half a million Filipino teachers practice it.
Work schedule. Work in offices, factories, stores, and other similar establishments begins at eight in the morning. Thus, professionals, employees, and workers also hurry in taking baths or showers, having breakfast, brushing their teeth, and getting dressed to arrive in their places of work early or on time. Such rush is already a regular ritual for the hardworking Filipinos.
Again, it is discipline. Now that they are already in their respective bread-winning fields, they still do what they had practiced when they were still studying.
Market vendors are all ready before dawn so that they can buy the freshest vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and other wet market items at the delivery centers or slaughterhouses. They have to get the best goods, and they can only do that if they arrive early at the delivery centers or slaughterhouses.
We Filipinos arrive early or on time in our destinations. This is the real or genuine time of the Filipino.
Spanish defect. Why is it that the Filipino is slapped with the accusation that he is always late, even when he arrives in his engagements early or on time?
This has something to do with the Spanish colonization of our race. Being the colonizers, the Spaniards wanted to be superior to the Filipinos and in everything. They wanted to be served, adored, and given all the attention.
Other articles by Jon E. Royeca
- Why Is the Philippines A Poor Country? - January 19, 2010
- Defend the Filipino - January 19, 2010
- Wrong Perceptions of Americans - January 19, 2010
- Gossips are everywhere - January 19, 2010
- Copycats? - January 19, 2010
- Colonial Mentality - January 19, 2010
- On Our Sense of History - January 19, 2010
- Crab Mentality Is Universal - January 19, 2010
- It’s Not Lack of Discipline - January 19, 2010
- All Nations Have Graft and Corruption - January 19, 2010
17 Responses to “The Real ‘Filipino Time’”
your testimony is kin’da inspiring to hear, hope that i can see more of your articles
Comment made on February 5th, 2010 at 11:30 amThank you, rhAine.
Comment made on February 5th, 2010 at 9:41 pmoh. you’re welcome, in fact i wanna thank tou because your article helps me a lot in my APA thesis ,,hmm.thank you again hope that i can read more of your testimonies.hehe
Comment made on February 10th, 2010 at 11:45 amoh! i used to go to the meetings 15 minutes early to familiarize myself with the audience, not anymore …
Comment made on February 13th, 2010 at 9:09 pmi guess filipino time is slowly creeping to other culture.
that won’t be shock for me…btw i’m still on the dot.
whatever i do i can’t stomach to blame on somebody because
it’s me.
“i guess filipino time is slowly creeping to other culture.”
What do you mean? The always-late habit has emanated from us and is now spreading to other lands? That’s a pernicious accusation.
Comment made on February 14th, 2010 at 11:28 pmDon’t other cultures have it?
Thanks you for your insightful essays and i am glad that there are others who look beyond the blind criticism of Filipino culture to look at its historical roots. Really, this is needed to counter pernicious writers like the infamous “damaged culture” Fallows guy who denigrates things he does not understand. Sadly, instead of being critical of this, so many “educated” Pinoys jumped onthe bandwagon and agreed with him without even looking at the historical context and background. good job!
Comment made on February 19th, 2010 at 12:16 pmThank you, Ms. Habana. I hope more of us would realize that what others (anti-Filipinos) have been saying against ourselves inflict severe damages on the way we look at and consider ourselves as a people. Even if it is inherent in the human being to criticize, at least, we should avoid those anti-Filipino remarks that debase our race.
Comment made on February 20th, 2010 at 12:44 pmJust to add to that in Brazil, VIP’s are expected to come late for everything. It’s not just 1 hour. People who perform well at school are the ones who never arrive early. It’s part of the Brazilian culture.
Thank you for your article. Like you, I am very patriotic.
Comment made on May 14th, 2010 at 7:08 amHaving travelled, live and worked in US & UK, I found your observation quite irritating on Filipino time. Go teach in philippines schools and you’ll see reality, students got that knack for arriving late with a million excuses.
Comment made on May 15th, 2010 at 7:56 pmWHY do people think that ?
Comment made on May 18th, 2010 at 12:24 am[brock]
As answers, the reader is advised to read the article again, as well as the first and second parts of this series:
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks/
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks-colonial-legacies/
Thank you.
Comment made on May 19th, 2010 at 12:19 pmstoneybert:
If there are students who arrive late, they are not the majority.
If my comments on Filipino time are irritating, it’s because you already have the premise that Filipinos are erratic. Whatever good that we Filipinos do will always mean nothing to anti-Filipinos like you.
Comment made on May 22nd, 2010 at 2:34 pmAlfonso:
Thank you for the information on Brazil.
I hope you are sincere in saying you are patriotic. There are some people who claim that they like what I write, but make a 380-degree turn after I have thanked them.
Comment made on May 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 pmhello Mr. Royeca
my classmates and I have a research study about ‘Filipino time’. Thanks to your article,it help us a lot and it perfectly fits for our research. may we know your sources or references for your article? Can you give us some books about it that will help us in our research?
thank you!
Comment made on July 29th, 2010 at 1:56 pm@ aldrin
Thank you for reading and for the comment.
My sources are Rizal’s novels, the Noli and Fili, as stated in the article. You may also visit:
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks/
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks-colonial-legacies/
These articles explain why there are anti-Filipino prejudices, like the “Filipino time.”
“Filipino time” is an English term. Who else would invent it?
Comment made on July 31st, 2010 at 8:35 pmSome may question why I used Rizal’s novels as bases for this article, since those novels are fictional works.
Although Rizal’s novels are works of fiction, their setting, characters, and tempo are based on actual events. Rizal himself attested to this.
In a letter to his Austrian friend Ferdinand Blumentritt dated Berlin, Germany, March 21, 1887, Rizal said:
“[The Noli} is the first impartial and bold book on the life of the Tagalogs. The Filipinos will find in it the history of the last ten years. ... The government and the friars will probably attack the work, refuting my arguments, but I trust in the God of Truth and in the persons who have seen our sufferings at close range. Here I answer all the insults, which have been intended to belittle us. ..."
-- The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, Part 1, p. 62.
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In a letter to a compatriot dated Berlin, March 7, 1887, Rizal said:
"Noli Me Tangere, words taken from the Gospel of Saint [John], mean ‘touch me not.’ The book contains, then, things that nobody in our country had spoken of until the present. They are so delicate that they cannot be touched by [anyone].
“With reference to myself, I have attempted to do what nobody had wished to do. I have replied to the calumnies that for so many centuries have heaped on us and our country.
“I have described the social condition, the life there, our beliefs, our hopes, our desires, our complaints, our sorrows. …
“I have lifted the curtain in order to show what is behind the deceitful and glittering words of our government.
“I have told our compatriots our defects, our vices, our culpable and cowardly complacency with the miseries over there. Whenever I have found virtue[,] I have proclaimed it and render homage to it. …
“The incidents I relate are all true and they happened; I can give proofs of them. My book may have and it has defects from the artistic or aesthetic point of view. I don’t deny it[,] but what cannot be questioned is the impartiality of my narration.”
– Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1973, pp. 83-84.
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Comment made on August 1st, 2010 at 12:32 pmRizal’s novels are works of fiction, but they also sincerely portray the political, social, and cultural colors of the period when the novels were written.
The “always late” instance involving the Spaniard Linares is in Chapter 60 (61 in other versions) of the Noli: “Wedding Plans for Maria Clara.”
The “always late” instance in the Fili is in Chapter 22: “The Performance.”
Simoun’s criticism of imitating the Spanish, including their defects, is in Chapter 7: “Simoun.”
Comment made on August 1st, 2010 at 12:39 pmLeave a Comment