Philippine Standard Time

Philippine Standard Time
Time zone
The Clock tower of Manila City Hall is the icon for synchronizing the time in the whole Philippine archipelago, before an atomic clock was introduced in the country in 2012. The purposes of these Philippine "towering timepieces" are to tell the time and to serve as landmarks.
UTC offset
PHT	UTC+08:00
Current time
23:17, 26 September 2026 PHT [refresh]
Observance of DST
DST is not observed in this time zone.

Philippine Standard Time (PST or PhST; 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 a single time zone, at an offset of UTC+08:00, but used daylight saving time for brief periods from November 1, 1936 until July 28, 1990.

Geographic details

Countries that use UTC+08:00 are in yellow.

Geographically, the Philippines lies within 114°17′/116°53′ and 126°37′ east of the Prime Meridian, and is therefore fully 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 (Russia), Central Indonesia, and most of Mongolia.

History

Erroneous International Date Line from the 1888 Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, running between the Spanish Philippine Islands and British Hong Kong. The Philippine Islands along with the rest of New Spain are shown on the eastern side of the IDL. They had moved west of the line in 1845. Bonin Islands and Fiji are also shown east of the line. They were actually west of the line.

Precolonial era

Before the arrival of clocks in the 16th century, early Filipinos kept track of time using environmental cues, the positions of the sun, and the stars. Portions of the day and night were given highly descriptive names. For example, dawn was called bukang-liwayway, midday was katanghalian, dusk was takipsilim, and midnight was hatinggabi. Each region effectively followed its own local solar mean time.

Age of Exploration

When Ferdinand Magellan sailed west around the world from Seville, Spain on August 10, 1519, he and his crew lost a few minutes every day. Because they were travelling in the same direction as the apparent movement of the sun, their days ended later than those of people who remained in Europe, causing them to start their subsequent days later as well. On November 28, 1520, the Magellan–Elcano expedition had crossed the Pacific Ocean from the coast of South America that would much later be associated with the International Date Line (IDL). However, it would be anachronistic to say that the expedition should have adjusted its clocks according to modern time zones or advanced its calendar by one day upon crossing the line. The International Date Line and the standardized system of global time zones did not yet exist in the modern sense. Instead, the apparent discrepancy in their calendar arose from their continuous westward journey around the globe.

After passing through the Strait of Magellan, the expedition continued sailing through largely uncharted waters in an effort to reach the Spice Islands (now Maluku Islands) by this western route. However, when they reached the Philippines on March 16, 1521, they introduced the date of the western hemisphere on the island.

The expedition's experience eventually provided an important early demonstration of the phenomenon later associated with circumnavigation and the International Date Line: travellers moving continuously westward around the Earth can find their recorded calendar date differs by one day from that of people who remained at their starting point. The discrepancy became particularly significant when the surviving members of the expedition returned to Spain on September 6, 1522.

Spanish period

For 323 years, 9 months, and 2 days, which lasted from Saturday, March 16, 1521 (Julian Calendar), until Monday, December 30, 1844 (Gregorian Calendar), the Philippines had the same date as the Americas (particularly Mexico). This was because it was a Spanish colony supplied and controlled via Mexico through Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade, which lasted up to 250 years from July 2, 1565, until September 14, 1815, few years before Mexico's declaration of independence from Spain on September 27, 1821. After this, Spanish Crown took direct control of the Philippines and governed directly from Madrid. In addition, the Philippine trading partners shifted away from the Americas and expanded towards Imperial China (now China), the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia and Malaysia) and nearby areas.

The Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria consulted the Archbishop of Manila, Jose Segui, about fixing the time discrepancy of the Philippines compared to its Asian neighbors, to fix and ease the trade for the economic sustenance of the territory. On August 16, 1844, Claveria decreed that Tuesday, December 31, 1844, should be removed from the Philippine calendar. So 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 the International Date Line moved from going west of the Philippines to go on the east side of the country to realign itself with the rest of Asia. In other words, the whole archipelago had to follow the eastern hemisphere.

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.

American period

After the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the United States in 1898, the Philippines began moving toward modern standardized time offsets rather than individual local solar times. In the following year, the archipelago first adopted Philippine Time (PHT) as its uniform standard time. Under American colonial rule, the timezone was strictly defined to align with global standards at an offset of GMT+08:00. This change synchronized maritime trade, telegraph communication, and rail transport across the scattered islands.

During World War II, particularly under Japanese occupation (1942–1945), the occupying forces forced the country onto Japan Standard Time (JST). Clocks across the archipelago were advanced by one hour to GMT+09:00 to match Tokyo's schedule. With the liberation of the Philippines occurred from October 20, 1944 to August 15, 1945, the country reverted to its standard GMT+08:00 offset.

Postwar and contemporary period

Following independence in 1946, time synchronization remained largely voluntary for decades. During this period, the Manila City Hall Clock Tower served as the primary visual anchor for civil time.

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.

In September 2011, the Department of Science and Technology proposed to synchronize time nationwide, which was an effort to discourage tardiness and non-standard time displayed on television and radio stations. PAGASA installed a rubidium atomic clock, a GPS receiver, a time interval counter, a distribution amplifier, and a computer to help calculate the time difference with every satellite within its antenna's field of view.

In order to promote synchronicity with official time, on May 15, 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10535 setting the Philippine Standard Time, requiring all government offices and media networks to synchronize their timepieces with PAGASA's rubidium atomic clock.

Today, PAGASA maintains the official time network through a highly accurate rubidium atomic clock system hooked into GPS satellites, linking the archipelago perfectly with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The current national movement, branded as Oras Pinas, runs under the tagline One Nation, One Time: Pilipinas ON TIME.

Timeline

Period in use	Time offset from GMT/UTC	Name of time
Saturday, March 16, 1521 (Julian Calendar) – Monday, December 30, 1844 (Gregorian Calendar)	GMT−15:56 (in Manila)	Local mean time
	GMT−16:12 (in Balabac, the westernmost island)
	GMT−15:34 (in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area)
Tuesday, December 31, 1844	The day that never occurred as ordered by the Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria to add 24 hours to the local mean time.	Time zone change
Wednesday, January 1, 1845 – May 10, 1899	GMT+08:04 (in Manila)	Local mean time
	GMT+07:48 (in Balabac, the westernmost island)
	GMT+08:26 (in Davao Oriental, the easternmost area)
May 11, 1899 – October 31, 1936	GMT+08:00	Philippine Time
November 1, 1936 – January 31, 1937	GMT+09:00	Philippine Daylight Saving Time
February 1, 1937 – April 30, 1942	GMT+08:00	Philippine Time
May 1, 1942 – October 31, 1944	GMT+09:00	Tokyo Standard Time
November 1, 1944 – April 11, 1954	GMT+08:00	Philippine Time
April 12, 1954 – June 30, 1954	GMT+09:00	Philippine Daylight Saving Time
July 1, 1954 – March 21, 1978	GMT/UTC+08:00	Philippine Time
March 22, 1978 – September 20, 1978	UTC+09:00	Philippine Daylight Saving Time
September 21, 1978 – May 20, 1990	UTC+08:00	Philippine Time
May 21, 1990 – July 28, 1990	UTC+09:00	Philippine Daylight Saving Time
July 29, 1990 – May 31, 2013	UTC+08:00	Philippine Time
June 1, 2013 – present	UTC+08:00	Philippine Standard Time

Use of daylight saving time

Main article: Daylight saving time in the Philippines

Since 1991, the Philippines has not observed daylight saving time. It was in use for short periods during the presidencies of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936–1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.

Time signals

Established under Republic Act No. 10535, otherwise known as the Philippine Standard Time Act of 2013, Philippine Standard Time (PhST) serves as the singular official time zone across the entire Philippine archipelago, operating at UTC+08:00 without any daylight saving time observations. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA), operating through its Astronomical Observatory in Diliman, Quezon City, acts as the country's official timekeeper by using high-precision Rubidium Atomic Clocks to maintain exact chronological accuracy. Under national law, all government agencies, broadcast stations, financial institutions, and telecommunication networks are required to synchronize their systems to PhST to ensure seamless public administration, secure financial transactions, and reliable scheduling. Individuals and organizations can synchronize their digital infrastructure directly with the official national time by connecting to DOST-PAGASA's dedicated Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers at `ntp.pagasa.dost.gov.ph`, by visiting the official `time.gov.ph` web portal, or by tuning into synchronized audio-visual time signals routinely broadcast across national television and radio channels under the "Oras Pinas" civic awareness campaign.

National Time Consciousness Week

National Time Consciousness Week is a significant annual observance in the Philippines, held every January 1 to 7 under the mandate of the Republic Act No. 10535, or the Philippine Standard Time Act of 2013, to systematically eliminate the counterproductive habit of "Filipino Time" and transform the country into a highly punctual society. Led by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and synchronized by PAGASA—the nation's official timekeeper using highly accurate atomic clocks—this week-long campaign unites national government agencies, local government units, private businesses, media networks, and schools in a synchronized effort to display and follow the exact same time. Through the impactful "Oras Pinas" advocacy campaign, the initiative highlights how precision and collective time discipline directly drive economic efficiency, national productivity, and institutional reliability. By treating time as a precious resource and requiring all public and private entities to synchronize their official clocks monthly, National Time Consciousness Week aims to foster a deep-seated cultural change where punctuality becomes a core symbol of Filipino pride, discipline, and respect for one another.

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

Main article: Date and time notation in the Philippines

Date

Standard: August 18, 2023 (month day, year or mm/dd/yyyy)

Formal (public documents): the 18th day of August, 2023 or 18 August 2023 (day month year)

Filipino: ika-18 ng Agosto, 2023 or 18 Agosto 2023 (dd-mm-yyyy)

Passport: 18 08 2023 (dd mm yyyy)

Time

Standard: 12-hour clock

Military/Scouting: US Military Time

Public Transport and Marathon events: 24-hour clock

Common spoken language

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, literally meaning "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 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 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

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

See also

• ASEAN Common Time
• International Date Line

External links

• Philippine Standard Time
• Official time in the Philippines (widget)