‘New Filipino Time’ for economic progress
June 2, 2003 | 12:00am
Whoever’s the smart aleck who first christened tardiness or being habitually late as "Filipino Time" deserves to be publicly shot in Luneta for not only unfairly maligning the Filipino nation, but for the high-crime of economic sabotage as well. He or she has condemned the whole country into perpetual inefficiency by coming up with this convenient and fashionable cultural excuse for not being on time. If we complain or berate people for being late, he or she can just jokingly blame Filipino Time, even if tardiness sometimes causes economic wastage, lost opportunities, personal inconveniences, pent-up emotions, frayed nerves and stress.
This national propensity for tardiness was probably inculcated or reinforced by the Spanish colonizers, whose other former colonies in Latin America are today also world-famous for tardiness and economic malaise. Once among the world’s top wealthiest nations in the early 20th century, Argentina is now an economic mess and oil-rich Venezuela this year could not even afford the foreign exchange needed to send its voluptuous beauty queen to the Miss Universe pageant in nearby Panama! It is amazing that even entrepreneurs of the local Chinese community in the Philippines have already imbibed this national habit of tardiness, especially in notoriously late local lauriat receptions and even during tour groups abroad, unlike the prompt ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs from Singapore, Hong Kong and other progressive societies.
Edgardo Madrazo of New Life Supermarket commented: "Our phrase mamaya na coincidentally rhymes with the Spanish word mañana or tomorrow, did we get this bad habit from the Spanish colonizers?"
Isn’t it about time that the Catholic Church, the different religious groups, the business chambers, the political leaders, all schools and universities and other people of influence launch a massive nationwide education campaign on New Filipino Time? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is known for her punctuality, but as a former college teacher, why can’t she become the Teacher of the Nation and push for national discipline? A Punctual Republic is more economically successful than a Strong Republic. Whenever sending out invitations or announcing meetings or social functions, perhaps we can start using the phrase New Filipino Time to mean that tardiness or lateness will not be tolerated?
Can we spark the New Filipino Time revolution by instituting time cards for all senators and congressmen and by demanding that they be punctual in showing up in the legislature, that tardiness or absences will mean slashing their fat pork barrel allocations and salaries? I recommend that the attendance sheets of all legislators should be published annually, including all tardiness or absences.
Senator Juan Flavier once told this writer: "Do you know why I’m never late or absent in the Senate? Because my mother used to admonish me when I was a kid that even if you are not a bright student, never be late and never be absent, and you shall have big chances of passing in school."
If there are theoretically 30 million people of working age in the Philippines today, and if we can save one hour per day due to a vigorous and collective effort at not being tardy, this will translate into 30 million hours of additional economic productivity per day for our country! Instead of the instant knee-jerk habit of proclaiming non-working holidays, why not expend more energy and resources for a national punctuality campaign called New Filipino Time? How much more wealth can be added to the Gross National Product (GNP), how much more billions of dollars in exports can the Philippines produce and ship out on time each year if we propagate this revolutionary idea without delay?
People view time and scheduling differently in other parts of the globe. In rigid-time societies punctuality is critical, schedules are set in concrete, agendas are fixed and business meetings are rarely interrupted. Edward T. Hall coined the word "monochronic" for these clock-obsessed, schedule-worshipping cultures, which coincidentally have predominantly efficient, prosperous and highly-productive economies. And in direct contrast are "polychronic" cultures, where people put less emphasis on strict punctuality, are nonchalant about deadlines and where the national economies often lag behind in global competitiveness. Polychronic cultures prefer loose scheduling, as well as business meetings where several meetings-within-meetings may be taking place simultaneously. According to Gesteland, the world’s regions are accordingly divided in terms of their outlook of time:
Monochronic Business Cultures: North America, Nordic and Germanic Europe, Japan
Moderately Monochronic: China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Europe, Russia and most of East-Central Europe, South Africa
Polychronic Business Cultures: Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, the Arab world, most of Africa
What are the attributes of monochronic business cultures?
• Punctuality and schedules are very important to business people.
• Schedules and deadlines are very important. Tardiness signals lack of discipline. The Germans, for instance, feel that if a man is 10 minutes late for a meeting, he may well be 10 weeks late with his delivery.
• Meetings are seldom interrupted.
• Tend to follow agenda. Conversations proceed in a linear fashion from Item 1 to the last item on the agenda with no major digressions.
• Meeting starts off only with a few minutes of introductory small talk.
What are the attributes of polychronic business cultures?
• People and relationships are more important than punctuality and precise scheduling.
• Schedules and deadlines tend to be quite flexible. Many of them even tend to have an aversion towards rigid deadlines. For instance, if one’s Sicilian counterpart shows up at all on the day of the meeting, he is considered to be punctual. Wedding dinners are guaranteed to begin at least two hours late in Singapore. Many Arab men believe that it is impious and irreligious to try to see into the future; terms like Insh’allah or "God willing" express that belief.
"Time holds different values, norms, traditions, and beliefs to different cultures. It is important for different cultures whether attached to material or spiritual aspects. Time is considered a finite commodity. Allowing enough time for important issues before arriving to a decision. In the Western society, time is money and a strategic commodity to be used frugally. Some cultures, the US for example, perceive time as a commodity and an asset, and very high importance is placed on it. ‘Time is of the essence,’ ‘Time is money.’ Conservation of time is, therefore, an efficient process in these cultures. Punctuality is expected behavior, tardiness is unacceptable behavior and norm. People in other cultures, however, do not place as much premium on time and punctuality; to them, time does not equal money, tardiness is quite acceptable, and punctuality is viewed as an unreasonable behavior.
"Non time-oriented societies place much greater premium in relationships and a more relaxed lifestyle than they do on time and punctuality. They tend to be more traditional, apprenticeship-oriented, and things tend to pass the same way from one generation to another, no room for experimentation, emphasizes other social sciences rather than economics, and profit is not a major motivating factor. Non time-oriented cultures get extremely offended by other cultures that apply time-oriented behavior in business and economics transactions. They prefer that amicable relationships be established before business is conducted. Schedules are important to individuals in some time-oriented cultures, but relatively unimportant for people in non time-oriented. It must be done by tomorrow mentally but other cultures when it gets done mentally now is more important. Furthermore, in some cultures which tasks get done first depends on factors such as relationships. Telling someone in the Middle East, Latin America or Africa that something must be done now or by the end of the day or by tomorrow may prove to be a mistake.
"The recipient of the direction may stop work because he/she is placed under pressure like putting a red flag in front of a bull or may be perceived that the person putting the order is rude or pushy. This is always the way Americans come across. Some cultures take a long time to make important decisions while other cultures make important decisions quickly. Consequently, low managers in cultures that take a long time to make important decisions often try to heighten their work status by lingering over routine decisions. Foreign managers who try to make important decisions quickly in these cultures are likely to downgrade their importance in the local people’s eyes."
Dr. Garcia further discussed the issue of using time to communicate in a culture as "chronemics," citing two types. He said: "Monochromatic is a time schedule in which things are done in a linear fashion. Issues A are solved first and then B. In these societies, time is very important and is viewed as something that can be controlled and should be used wisely. It is important to be on time, time is of the essence, time is valuable, meetings not only start on time but end on time. In individualistic cultures such as the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, and other Northern European countries, the culture adheres to monochromatic time. Polychromatic: A time schedule in which people tend to do several things at the same time and place higher value on personal involvement than getting things."
How come millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other expatriate Filipinos can follow time schedules promptly abroad, obey the traffic rules, work diligently and excel, but not so much back here in the Philippines? How come intellectuals and social reformers like Dr. Jose Rizal had always admonished cultural and moral reforms, believing that the malevolent and anti-efficiency values propagated by the Spanish colonizers could be exorcised out of Philippine life? When shall we arrive at a national consensus that the Philippines has no more luxury of time, that we have become economic laggards to many of our resource-poor Asian neighbors and that we should shape up or perish?
An ancient Chinese proverb said that an ounce of time is equivalent to an ounce of gold, but no amount of gold bullion can buy back time that has been lost. When shall those who claim to be leaders of the Filipino nation roll up their sleeves and buckle down to work on unleashing the "New Filipino Time" revolution whose time has come, now and not tomorrow?
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