Date and time notation in the Philippines

The Philippines has not officially adopted any time and date representation standard based on the ISO 8601. Notation practices across the country are in various, customary formats.

Date

In casual settings, alphanumeric date formats are usually written with a middle-endian order (month-day-year) in a way similar to that of the United States.[1] Another format, the little-endian order (day-month-year), similar way to the United Kingdom, is applied primarily by the military and the police, although it is also used for more formal civil uses such as government memorandums, a number of tertiary-level educational institutions such as the University of the Philippines system, and business databases for companies that deal with non-East Asian clients. Other minor applications of the little-endian format include certificates, plaques, trophies and expiration dates.[2]

There is no law mandating the date order, minimum or maximum length, or format (i.e. alphanumeric or numeric), and notations sometimes vary from office to office, in private and public sectors. For example, passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which particularly notates the date numerically as MM-DD-YY, legislative bills and executive orders are dated alphanumerically with a MMMM-DD-YYYY format. The little-endian (day-month-year) date format is always written alphanumerically by default to avoid confusion.

Hyphens (‐) and forwardslashes (/) are the most common separators for a numeric date format. The use of periods (.) are almost exclusively used for expiration dates that are normally written in the alphanumeric day-month-year format. On the other hand, an alphanumeric date in month-day-year format instead uses spacing and a comma between the day and year. The day-month-year variant likewise does not necessarily require a comma between the month and year.

Below are date format variations typically used in the Philippines:

FormatOrderExample
Alphanumeric
MMMM-DD-YYYYJanuary 04, 2021
MMMM-D-YYYYJanuary 4, 2021
DD-MMM-YYYY04 Jan 2021
D-MMM-YYYY4 Jan 2021
Numeric
MM-DD-YYYY01-04-2021
M-D-YYYY1-4-2021
MM-DD-YY01-04-21

The following date format variations are less commonly used:

FormatOrderExample
Numeric
M-D-YY1-4-21
DD-MM-YYYY04-01-2021
D-M-YYYY4-1-2021
DD-MM-YY04-01-21
D-M-YY4-1-21

In Tagalog and Filipino, however, the day-month-year notation is the format as adapted from the Spanish. The ordinal prefix ika is applied on the day first as in ika-4 ng Enero, 2021 (English: 4th of January 2021). The month-day-year format is also used, albeit rarely and more for Spanish recitation. The English-based formats (Enero 4, 2021 or especially in the military, 4 Enero 2021) are used but are still read in the Tagalog day-month-year notation.

Time

The Philippines uses the 12-hour notation in most oral or written communication, whether formal or informal. A colon (:) is used to separate the hour from the minutes (12:30 p.m.). The use of the 24-hour notation is usually restricted in use among airports, the military, police and other technical purposes.

Spoken Conventions

Numerical elements of dates and the time may pronounced using either their Spanish names or vernacular ones; the former is somewhat pedestrian whilst the latter tends to be longer, formal and academic.

Examples:

Date: 1/4/2021

  • Spanish-derived: Enero kuwatro, dos mil bente-uno (Spanish: Cuatro de Enero, dos mil veintiuno)
  • English-derived: Enero kuwatro, dos mil bente-uno (also in use) (English: January four, two thousand twenty-one)
  • Tagalog: Ika-apat(ng/na araw) ng Enero, dalawang libo't dalawampu't isa or Enero apat, dalawang libo't dalawampu't isa

Time: 8:30 p.m.

  • Spanish-derived: Alas otso imedya ng gabi (Spanish: A las ocho y media; note ng gabi as vernacular designation for in the evening)
  • Tagalog: Tatlumpu (minuto/sandali) makalipas ikawalo ng gabi

See also

References
  1. Why do Americans put the date the wrong way around? News.com.au Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  2. FDA Regulation 001 s. 1982 Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines. Reference for expiration dates only retrieved 2018-01-22.
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