PNoy signs Philippine Standard Time and National Time Consciousness Week bill into law

President Benigno S. Aquino III has signed last May 15 a consolidated bill setting the Philippine Standard Time (PST) and institutionalizing the "National Time Consciousness Week" on the first week of the year into a law.

The new law, The PST Act of 2013 or Republic Act 10535 is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 3284 and House Bill No. 164 that was passed by the Senate and House of Representatives on February 4, 2013. It aims to set the PST in all official sources throughout the country, to provide funds for the installation, operation and maintenance of synchronized time devices to be displayed in key public places and to declare the first week of every year as National Time Consciousness Week.

All national and local government offices must display Philippine Standard Time on their official time devices, including bundy clocks, synchronized at least once a month in accordance with the official time provided by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) using its network time protocol.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will also require all government and private television and radio stations to ensure the synchronization of timekeeping devices even in the most remote parts of the country.

If owners of television and radio stations failed to comply to these instructions, upon hearing and due proceedings, they will be penalized with a fine of not less than P30,000 but not more than P50,000 in the first offense, to be deposited in the general fund of the National Treasury. A subsequent offense will merit revocation and cancellation of their franchises to operate.

The PAGASA's Time Service Unit, in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), shall be tasked to monitor, maintain and disseminate the PST throughout the country by the operation and maintenance of a timekeeping system, and installation and maintenance of sufficiently large and prominently displayed synchronized time devices in all their field stations and in key public places.

Under Republic Act No. 9184 or Government Procurement Reform Act, the DOST shall be the overseer of the procurement of the equipment necessary for the automatic dissemination of time with global positioning system (GPS).

The PAGASA, in coordination with the DOST, the NTC, the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Department of National Defense, Department of Health, the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), shall promulgate the necessary guidelines for the effective implementation of the Act within 90 days from its effectivity.

The Act is effective after 15 days from its publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation.