About the Author- Shakira Andrea Sison

Shakira Andrea Sison is an award-winning essayist, fictionist, and poet. She writes a weekly column
for Rappler.com on gender issues, culture, politics, and immigration.

In 2014, she won the Hildegarde Award for Women in Media and Communication for her essays on gender
and efforts in LGBTQ advocacy and also have won her Palanca Awards in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In
2000, she was included in the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center’s Writers of the New
Century. She was also a fiction fellow at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop in 2008.

Read the text and answer the questions below. Write your answer on 1 whole sheet of yellow
paper.

Can we get rid of 'Filipino Time'?

By: Shakira Andrea Sison

Growing up in Manila, it was almost a given to treat the time as a vague guideline instead of an exact
point in the day. If a party invitation says it starts at 9 pm that would usually mean 11:00, and showing
up on time meant one would be waiting for everyone else and making a fool of herself.
I did that once at my prom. My date and I got the Adam & Eve Award for being "the first couple" to
arrive.

Even in work situations, each time requirement seemed to be subject to a variety of excuses – traffic,
coding, not having a driver, "I don't have a watch," and so on. It was strange to me that people got
away with these excuses, but it seemed like a way of life. It wasn't until I moved to the US that there
were actually repercussions to tardiness.

I was recently reminded of "Filipino time" when a Filipina friend who had just moved to New York sent
me a text message 10 minutes before our 3 pm meeting time to say that she was just leaving from
her home an hour-and-a-half away. I was already waiting for her at our meeting spot, so my wife and I
just rolled our eyes, shrugged and said, "Pinoy talaga (Truly Filipino)."

Questions:
1. Is tardiness truly cultural, and therefore endemic to a particular country? Explain.
2. Is there a way for Filipinos to arrive on time? Explain.
3. What is your analysis on the essay?
4. What do you think is the author’s purpose in writing the essay?

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