MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) will launch on Friday a project promoting time-consciousness in a bid to help re-instill among Filipinos the value of time or punctuality.

The project dubbed, “Juan Time,” to be initiated by the DoST, through the Science and Technology Information Institute, aims to promote the nationwide use of the PST or Philippine Standard Time (hence “Juan Time,” a word play on “One Time” and “Juan” being the common name for Filipinos) and sync timepieces with the PST.

DoST said the official launch of the project will be held Friday at the Music Hall of the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

Partnering with DoST in this nationwide campaign are Metro Manila Development Authority, SM Supermalls, Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center, Team Manila, Lamoiyan Corporation, and Discovery Channel.

A pre-event featuring exhibits and a fashion show was held last September 23 at the iMAX Ground Floor, Lobby Lounge, SM Mall of Asia. The show, hosted by Tessa Prieto-Valdes, had surprise celebrity guests, including the 2011 Miss Earth winners, to help reinforce the message that Filipino time means being “on time.”

“PST, the country’s official time, sets only one common time in the archipelago’s more than 7,100 islands,” Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said. “Juan Time reminds Filipinos that following the PST will prevent the difficulties of having confusing, unsynchronized time.”

“With Juan Time, Filipino time will come to mean ‘on time’ and no longer late,” Montejo added.

“Filipino time,” it was recalled, originally describes the Filipinos’ penchant for starting, or arriving at, events some 15 to 30 minutes later than the set time. It has become a notorious habit that, unknown to many, pulls back the country in terms of lost productivity.

Montejo said with the launching of “Juan Time,” the so-called “Filipino time” will soon become an afterthought among Filipinos.

PST was established decades ago under the auspices of DoST’s Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) but was never strictly enforced. DoST-PAGASA has been the country’s official timekeeper since 1978 per Section 6 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 8.

The PST is set via DoST-PAGASA’s timing system that consists of rubidium atomic clock, Global Positioning System receiver, time interval counter, distribution amplifier, and a computer.

The system automatically calculates its time difference with every satellite within its antenna’s field of view. The PST is available online at the DoST-PAGASA website (http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph).