Philippine Standard Time
Philippine Standard Time (Filipino: Pamantayang Oras ng Pilipinas, abbreviated PST), also known as Philippine Time (PHT) and informally Juan Time, is the official name for the time in the Philippines. The country only uses one time zone (UTC+08:00), and for a short period, it also used daylight saving time which is known as Philippine Saving Time (abbreviated PHST) as an emergency measure.
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 Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, most parts of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, central Indonesia, and Western Australia.
History
Philippine Standard Time was instituted through Batas Pambansa Blg. 8 (that defined the metric system), approved on 2 December 1978 and implemented on 1 January 1983. The Philippines is one of the few countries to officially and almost exclusively use the 12-hour clock in non-military situations.
Time in the Philippines
Period in use | Time offset from GMT | Name of Time |
before 30 December 1844 | UTC-15:56 | London Mean Time |
31 December 1844 – 10 May 1899 | UTC+08:04 | London Mean Time |
11 May 1899 – 31 October 1936 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
1 November 1936 – 31 January 1937 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Saving Time |
1 February 1937 – 30 April 1942 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
1 May 1942 – 31 October 1944 | UTC+09:00 | Tokyo Standard Time |
1 November 1944 – 11 April 1954 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
12 April 1954 – 30 June 1954 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Saving Time |
1 July 1954 – 21 March 1978 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
22 March 1978 – 20 September 1978 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Saving Time |
21 September 1978 – 20 May 1990 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
21 May 1990 – 21 July 1990 | UTC+09:00 | Philippine Saving Time |
22 July 1990 – 31 May 2013 | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Time |
1 June 2013 – present | UTC+08:00 | Philippine Standard Time |
Use of daylight saving time
As of 2016, the Philippines does not observe daylight saving time, although it was enforced 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.[1]
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.[2]
On May 15, 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10535, better known as the "The Philippine Standard Time (PST) Act of 2013" as a last step to finally implement the Juan Time. Effective June 1, 2013, all government offices and media networks will be required to use Philippine Standard Time as a basis to set their timepieces.[3][4] 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: February 10, 2015
- Formal (Public Documents): 10th day of February, 2015
- Filipino: ika-10 ng Pebrero, 2015 or Pebrero 10, 2015
- Passport: 10 02 2015
Time
- Standard: 12-hour clock
- Military/Boy Scout: 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 Noon - it is seldom to use Twelve PM as it might be confused with 12 Midnight
- 12:00 AM - Twelve Midnight - it is seldom to use Twelve AM as it might confused with daylight
- Filipino
- Starts with Indigenized Spanish (original spelling in parentheses) and ends with Filipino – 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
External links
- Official time of the Philippines according to the Philippine Standard Time
- World Time Zone Abbreviations, Description and UTC Offset
- Time zone in Manila, Philippines