"Optimize Your Schedule: Embrace the Philippine Standard Time"

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The countries utilizing UTC 08:00 are highlighted in yellow.

Philippine Standard Time, abbreviated as PST or PhST;[1][2]Filipino: Pamantayang Oras ng Pilipinas is the recognized name of the time zone in the Philippines. Although the country employs just one time zone, it uses an offset of UTC 08:00. The nation had used daylight saving time for a short time during the 20th century.

Details on the geography[edit]

The Philippines is geographically located within the east of the Prime Meridian, within the range of 116°53′[clarification needed] and 126°34′[clarification needed][3], falling under the UTC 08:00 time zone. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) handles the maintenance of Philippine Standard Time. The Philippines shares the same time zone with China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Western Australia, Brunei, Irkutsk, Central Indonesia, and most of Mongolia.

A Journey Through Time[edit]

For centuries, the Philippines followed the same calendar as Mexico since it was a Spanish colony that was controlled via Mexico. This continued until September 27, 1821, when Mexico gained independence from Spain. It was only on August 16, 1844, when Governor-General Narciso Claveria decreed that Tuesday, December 31, 1844, would be omitted from the Philippine calendar. Thus, Wednesday, January 1, 1845, immediately followed Monday, December 30, 1844, adding one day or 24 hours to the country's local time. This caused the International Date Line to shift from being west of the Philippines to being on the east side of the country. [4][5]

In those times, each place set its own local time based on its precisely calibrated longitude to the local mean time. Time was observed by looking at the sun without the use of a standard clock.

The Philippine Standard Time that is now uniformly followed was officially instituted via Batas Pambansa Blg. 8 that defined the metric system, which was approved on December 2, 1978, and implemented on January 1, 1983. It's worth noting that the Philippines is among the few countries that make use of the 12-hour clock system in non-military settings. [citation needed][dubious ]

In September 2011, the Department of Science and Technology put forward the concept of synchronized time across the country to discourage tardiness. This effort aimed to standardize and restrict the display of time on TV and radio stations. To achieve this, PAGASA installed a rubidium atomic clock, along with a GPS receiver, a time interval counter, a distribution amplifier, and a computer to calculate the time difference with all satellites within its antenna's field of view. [6][7]

On May 15, 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10535, which mandated that all government offices and media networks synchronize their timepieces with PAGASA's rubidium atomic clock. The Philippines Standard Time was set by this act to create more efficiency in the citizen's daily life and reduce tardiness. [8][9][10]

The Evolution of Time in the Philippines [Edit]

The timeline of time in the Philippines is as follows.

From March 16, 1521, to December 30, 1844, the time offset from GMT was UTC−15:56 in Manila and the name of time was local mean time. However, in Balabac, the westernmost island, the time offset was UTC−16:12:16, and in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area, the time offset was UTC−15:33:35.

December 31, 1844, was a day that never occurred because Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered the addition of 24 hours to the local mean time.[11]

From January 1, 1845, to May 10, 1899, the time offset from GMT was UTC 08:04 in Manila, the name of time being local mean time. In Balabac, the westernmost island, the time offset was UTC 07:47:44, and in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area, the time offset was UTC 08:26:25.

From May 11, 1899, to October 31, 1936, the time offset from GMT was UTC 08:00, and the name of time was Philippine Standard Time.

From November 1, 1936, to January 31, 1937, the time offset from GMT was UTC 09:00 and the name of time was Philippine Daylight Time.

From February 1, 1937, to April 30, 1942, the time offset from GMT was UTC 08:00, and the name of time was again Philippine Standard Time.

From May 1, 1942, to October 31, 1944, the time offset from GMT was UTC 09:00, and the name of time was Tokyo Standard Time.

From November 1, 1944, to April 11, 1954, the time offset from GMT was UTC 08:00, and the name of time was Philippine Standard Time.

From April 12, 1954 to June 30, 1954, UTC 09:00 was in effect in the Philippines. From July 1, 1954 to March 21, 1978, Philippine Standard Time prevailed with UTC 08:00. Thereafter, from March 22, 1978 to September 20, 1978, UTC 09:00 prevailed with Philippine Daylight Time. From September 21, 1978 to May 20, 1990, Philippine Standard Time with UTC 08:00 was in place. There was a brief period from May 21, 1990 to July 28, 1990 when UTC 09:00 and Philippine Daylight Time came into effect, followed again by Philippine Standard Time with UTC 08:00 from July 29, 1990 to the present.

Since 1990, there has been no use of daylight saving time in the Philippines, except for brief periods under the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936-1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.

The IANA time zone database lists one zone for the Philippines in the file zone.tab, named Asia/Manila.

Date and time formats in the Philippines follow standard global conventions and require no adjustments or changes.

Standard: March 22, 2022 (month day, year or mm/dd/yyyy)

Official (Public Documents): The 22nd day of March 2022 or 22 March 2022 (day month year)

Filipino: Ika-22 ng Marso, 2022 or 22 Marso 2022 (dd-mm-yyyy)

Passport: 22 03 2022 (dd mm yyyy)

Time[edit]

Standard: 12-hour clock

Military/Scouting: US Military Time

Public Transportation and Marathon Events: 24-hour clock

Common Spoken Languages

Tagalized Spanish Terminology (Original Spanish Spelling in Parentheses; AM Radio Stations and Everyday Conversation)

8:41 – Alas otso kuwarenta y uno (A las ocho cuarenta y uno)

5:30 – Alas singko y medya (A las cinco y media)

3:00 – Alas tres (A las tres; en punto, which means "on the dot", may be added to signify "o'Clock".)

English (Business, Legal and Others)

8:41 PM – Eight forty-one PM

5:30 AM – Five thirty AM

3:00 PM – Three o'clock or Three PM

12:00 PM – Twelve midday or Twelve noon – Twelve PM is seldom used as it might be confused with 12 midnight

12:00 AM – Twelve midnight – Twelve AM is seldom used as it might be confused with 12 noon

Tagalog and Filipino

Starts with Spanish-derived (Original spelling in parentheses) and ends with Tagalog – Umaga starts at 5:00 AM and ends at 11:59 AM. Tanghalì is noon. Hapon starts at 1:00 PM and ends at 5:59 PM. Gabí starts at 6:00 PM and ends at 12:00 AM which is Hatinggabi. Madalíng Araw starts at 12:01 AM and ends at 4:59 AM. Except in very formal situations, Filipinos rarely use the vernacular numbers in telling time.

8:41 P.M. – Alas otso kuwarenta y uno (A las ocho cuarenta y uno) ng gabí or Apatnapú't-isá(ng minuto) makalipas ng ikawaló ng gabí or (ika)waló at apatnapú't-isá (na) ng gabi

5:30 A.M. – Alas singko y medya (A las cinco y media) ng umaga or Tatlumpû(ng minuto) makalipas ng ikalimá ng umaga or Kalahati makalipas ng ikalimá ng umaga or (ika)limá at kalaháti ng umaga or (ika)limá at tatlumpû(ng minuto) (na) ng umaga"

Here are some examples of the various time markings used in the Philippines:

- 3:00 P.M. is referred to as "Alas tres ng hapon" or "Ikatló ng hapon."

- 12:00 P.M. is referred to as "Alas dose ng tanghalì" or "Ikalabíndalawá ng tanghalì."

- 12:00 A.M. is referred to as "Alas dose ng hatinggabi" or "Ikalabíndalawá ng hatinggabí."

- 2:00 A.M. is referred to as "Alas dos ng madalíng araw" or "Ikalawá ng madalíng araw."

For further information on Philippine Standard Time, please see the following notes and references:

• - Notes: Edit information regarding Philippine Standard Time can be found by following the hyperlink in the 'Notes' section below.
• - References: For more information about Philippine Standard Time, please click the hyperlink in the 'References' section below.
• Sources:

- Medina, Marielle (2017). "National Time Consciousness Week." Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved January 6, 2018.

- "DOST urges Pinoys to follow PH Standard Time." Philippine News Agency. Philippine Canadian Inquirer. January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.

- "Republic Act No. 9522." Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2022.

- R. H. van Gent. "A History of the International Date Line." Webspace.science.uu.nl. Retrieved December 30, 2011.

A historical event from 1844 caused the Philippines to skip New Year's Eve, resulting in the loss of a day in the country's calendar, according to a GMA News Online article from January 1, 2017. ABS-CBN News redefined the concept of "Filipino time" with their Juan Time campaign, as reported in a September 26, 2011 article. Meanwhile, a Philippine Daily Inquirer article from December 31, 2011 describes the implementation of "Juan Time" clocks and countdowns. The implementation of "Juan Time" was made official with the Philippine Standard Time (PST) Act of 2013, as reported by the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines on May 15, 2013. GMA News reported on the planned implementation of PHL Standard Time on June 1, 2013 to combat "Filipino time." Far Outliers, in an August 27, 2007 blog post, describes the missing date of December 31, 1844 in Philippine history. Timeanddate.com has information on daylight saving time dates for Manila, Philippines between 2000 and 2009.

Further external links on these topics can be found by editing the "External links" section.