Understanding the Nuances of Filipino Time

Time may look like a simple idea on the surface, but the way people experience and interpret time is deeply cultural. Understanding how people from different cultures view time will shape how we relate to one another. Such awareness reduces the risk of falling into ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s own cultural perspective is inherently superior to the rest.

We, Filipinos, are often criticized for our tendency to arrive late when attending social functions. I am not even going to deny or defend this behavior. In fact, after having lived in the US for more than forty years now, where punctuality is held in esteem, close to being considered a virtue, I still come in late to some Filipino social functions, which do not start on time anyway. Many Filipino friends I know are like me. They tend to be always late. A former classmate survived the September 11 tragedy only because he arrived late for work that morning.

What can we learn from this unusual behavior?

All of us are products of cultural values and orientations. As Filipinos, we are culturally different from Americans or any other individuals from other countries. We place primary importance on the group like our family as the foundation of our self-identity, in contrast to the more individual-centered orientation characteristic of Americans and many Europeans.

Our communication style is reserved and indirect rather than direct and explicit that characterizes the American communication style. We avoid direct eye contact, as looking straight into another person’s eyes, especially the elderly or someone in authority, is traditionally regarded as a sign of disrespect. For Americans, eye contact is a big thing.

As a newly arrived immigrant, I must have made an unfortunate impression on the bank manager who interviewed me in Seattle, as I avoided direct eye contact in accordance with my cultural upbringing. In retrospect, I understood why I was not selected for the position, despite having previously worked in a management position in a bank in the Philippines.

Orientation to time is another cultural value that distinguishes us from what the late Edward Hall, an expert on cultural relationships, described as people from low-context culture like the Americans, the British, the Germans, the Australians, the Canadians and the Swedish, etc. People from low-context culture view time as something tangible, quantifiable and measurable. Time is viewed as precious; it is not supposed to be wasted. Coming late to an appointment is considered a waste of time because time is a commodity. Comments like, “We have to do time management” or "Always check your watch” are typical of how these people view time.

However, this view of time is not shared by people from high-context culture like Asians, Latin Americans, Spaniards, Africans, Native Americans, etc. In their culture, time is viewed as something very personal, where social harmony is more important than rigid schedules. People are viewed as more important than clocks. I was told that if you ask a Native American what time the party will start, their answer is, “When the people are there. It will end when the people are gone.” There is no specific time to begin and end the party.

These two orientations of how time is viewed point to the reality that what may be perceived as “lateness” in one culture may be “attending to some important needs of the moment” in another. Recognizing that our sense of time is not the only valid one, opens the door to patience, curiosity, more understanding, and better communication.

Our Filipino time orientation is like that of high-context culture. We do not view time as a commodity. We do not segment time into smaller, quantifiable units. Rather, we view time as part of the total experience. Time is something flexible where people’s immediate needs or social relationships take precedence over punctuality or rigid deadlines.

Filipino parties usually lasts longer because people want to hang around way past the designated time of closure and the host will not ask you to leave. As a boy growing up in the Philippines, I observed that my parents never made appointments to see a doctor. We just had to go to the clinic, and we would be taken care of. Our family operated on a sense of need rather than on a predetermined time. Everybody understood it; the doctor understood it. People from low-context culture like the Americans will never understand it.

Both time orientations have their own advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, problems and misunderstandings do arise when people of different time orientations interact. It would be imprudent for me to arrive late to a job interview with an American company and attempt to justify my tardiness by claiming that I had to drive my children to school. On the other hand, it would be equally foolish for an American visiting the Philippines not to learn the local “rules” for punctuality and aggressively demand instead that clock time should take precedence over anything else in life.

When we understand the different time orientations among cultures, we can avoid misinterpreting someone’s behaviors. What is important is to do a cultural shift of sorts, where we alter our mindset, becoming more accepting of other people’s cultural values and practices without necessarily abandoning our own. The goal is to understand other cultures and begin to see and behave differently than before. It’s like living in concrete the principle embodied in the adage, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” So, when in America, do as the Americans do. And when in the Philippines, do as the Filipinos do.

If all this means anything, it means that by understanding and respecting the different tine orientations across cultures, we can cultivate greater patience, minimize unnecessary friction, and foster more enduring personal relationships with people of different cultural values.