Philippine Standard Time
Philippine Standard Time (PST[1] or PhST;[2] Filipino: Pamantayang Oras ng Pilipinas), also known as Philippine Time (PHT), is the official name for the time zone used in the Philippines. The country only uses one time zone, at an offset of UTC+08:00, but has used daylight saving time for brief periods in the 20th century
Geographic details
Geographically, the Philippines lies within 116°40′ and 126°34′ east of the Prime Meridian, and is physically located within the UTC+08:00 time zone. Philippine Standard Time is maintained by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). 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.
History
Philippine Standard Time was instituted through Batas Pambansa Blg. 8 (that defined the metric system), approved on December 2, 1978 and implemented on January 1, 1983. The Philippines is one of the few countries to officially and almost exclusively use the 12-hour clock in non-military situations.
From 1521 to 1844, the Philippines had the same date as Mexico, because it had been a Spanish colony supplied and controlled via Mexico until Mexico's independence in the 1820s. Monday, December 30, 1844 was immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845, which added 1 day or 24 hours to the local time. This meant that International Date Line moved from going west of the Philippines to go on the east side of the country.[3] At the time, local mean time was used to set clocks, meaning that every place used its own local time based on its longitude, because the time was measured by locally observing the sun.
Time in the Philippines
Period in use | Time offset from GMT | Name of time |
---|---|---|
before December 30, 1844 | UTC−15:56 (in Manila) | local mean time |
UTC−16:12:16 (in Balabac, the westernmost island) | ||
UTC−15:33:35 (in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area) | ||
January 1, 1845 – May 10, 1899 | UTC+08:04 (in Manila) | local mean time |
UTC+07:47:44 (in Balabac, the westernmost island) | ||
UTC+08:26:25 (in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area) | ||
May 11, 1899 – October 31, 1936 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
November 1, 1936 – January 31, 1937 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Daylight Time |
February 1, 1937 – April 30, 1942 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
May 1, 1942 – October 31, 1944 | UTC+09:00 | Tokyo Standard Time |
November 1, 1944 – April 11, 1954 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
April 12, 1954 – June 30, 1954 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Daylight Time |
July 1, 1954 – March 21, 1978 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
March 22, 1978 – September 20, 1978 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Daylight Time |
September 21, 1978 – May 20, 1990 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
May 21, 1990 – July 28, 1990 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Daylight Time |
July 29, 1990 – present | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
Use of daylight saving time
Since 1990, the Philippines did not observe daylight saving time, although it was in use for short periods during the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936–1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.[4]
Juan Time
Television and radio stations in the Philippines display the time, but varied from a few seconds to minutes. In September 2011, the Department of Science and Technology proposed to synchronise time nationwide in an effort to discourage tardiness. PAGASA installed a rubidium atomic clock, a GPS receiver, a time interval counter, distribution amplifier and a computer to help calculate the time difference with every satellite within its antenna's field of view.[5][6]
On May 15, 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10535, better known as "The Philippine Standard Time (PST) Act" as the latest step of implementing the Juan Time.[7] Since June 1, 2013, all government offices and media networks are required to synchronize their timepieces with PAGASA's rubidium atomic clock.[8][9] In addition, the first week of January will be regularly observed as the National Time Consciousness Week.
IANA time zone database
The IANA time zone database contains one zone for the Philippines in the file zone.tab, named Asia/Manila.
Date and time format
Date
- Standard: January 20, 2021
- Formal (Public Documents): the 20th day of January 2021 or 20 January 2021
- Filipino: ika-20 ng Enero, 2021 or 20 Enero 2021
- Passport: 20 01 2021
Time
- Standard: 12-hour clock
- Military/Scouting: US Military Time
- Public Transport and Marathon events: 24-hour clock
- Common Spoken Language
- Indigenized Spanish terminology (original Spanish spelling in parentheses; AM radio stations and everyday conversation)
- 8:41 – Alas otso kwarenta 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, literally meaning "on the dot", may be added to signify "o'Clock".)
- English-derived (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 confused with daylight
- Filipino
- Starts with Indigenized Spanish (original spelling in parentheses) and ends with Tagalog – Umaga starts at 5:00 AM and ends 11:59 AM. Tanghalì is noon. Hapon starts at 1:00 PM and ends 5:59 PM. Gabí starts at 6:00 PM and ends 12:00 AM which is Hatinggabi. Madalíng Araw starts at 12:01 AM and ends 4:59 AM. Except in very formal situations, Filipinos rarely use the vernacular numbers in telling time.
- 8:41 P.M. – Alas otso kwarenta y uno (A las ocho cuarenta y uno) ng gabí or Apatnapú't-isá(ng minuto) makalipas ng ikawaló ng gabí
- 5:30 A.M. – Alas singko y medya (A las cinco y media) ng umaga or Tatlumpûng minuto makalipas ng ikalimá ng umaga or ikalimá at kalaháti ng umaga
- 3:00 P.M. – Alas tres (A las tres) ng hapon o Ikatló ng hapon
- 12:00 P.M. – Alas dose (A las doce) ng tanghalì o Ikalabíndalawá ng tanghalì
- 12:00 A.M. – Alas dose (A las doce) ng hatinggabi o Ikalabíndalawá ng hatinggabí
- 2:00 A.M. – Alas dos ng madalíng araw (A las dos) o Ikalawá ng madalíng araw
- Indigenized Spanish terminology (original Spanish spelling in parentheses; AM radio stations and everyday conversation)
References
- Medina, Marielle (January 4, 2017). "National Time Consciousness Week". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Inquirer Research. 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.
- R. H. van Gent. "A History of the International Date Line". Webspace.science.uu.nl. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- "Daylight saving time dates for Philippines – Manila between 2010 and 2019". timeanddate.com.
- Juan Time: Filipino time redefined | ABS-CBN News
- Cebu Daily News 2011
- "Republic Act No. 10535". Official Gazette. Government of the Philippines. May 15, 2013.
- "PHL Standard Time to counter 'Filipino time' starting June 1". GMA News Online.
- Are you on Philippine Standard Time? | ABS-CBN News
Sources
- Cebu Daily News (December 31, 2011). "Clocks and countdowns set for 'Juan Time'". Archived from the original on January 6, 2018.