By Brian Campued
It’s ORAS PINAS time again!
In its renewed call for responsible time management, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will spearhead the observance of the 2025 National Time Consciousness Week (NTCW) on Jan. 1 to 7—with the theme, “Oras Pinas: Tara Na! Kilos Na!”—to synchronize all timepieces across the country.
According to the DOST, the 2025 theme “embodies enthusiasm, vibrancy, and a commitment to building a responsible and progressive society.”
The 2025 theme aims to instill the value of time management, especially among young professionals, to help in nation-building and to support efforts to achieve sustainable development and inclusive growth.
“As the New Year unfolds, DOST emphasizes that responsible time management is not just about the ticking of the clock, but about creating a ripple effect across society,” the agency said in a press release, stressing that valuing time is “foundational” to businesses, relationships, and community development.
Under the Republic Act No. 10535 or the Philippine Standard Time (PhST) Act of 2013, the NTCW is observed during the first week of January of every year to instill punctuality and the need to respect the time of others by synchronizing the official time or the PhST.
The law requires all government agencies and media companies to adhere to and display the PhST on their official time devices based on the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA) clock.
PAGASA—designated as the official timekeeper in the country—utilizes a rubidium atomic clock, equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, that captures time signals from at least four orbiting satellites.
Accordingly, the rubidium clock, as well as the cesium clock, are the two most widely used atomic clocks in the world which helps synchronize time with the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
-avds