Filipino Time is still in style in Marinduque

Garden Wedding Site, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines, where the wedding ceremony started only one hour late

Macrine's nephew is getting married next month. We will be one of the three pairs of sponsors for the wedding. Today, he formally introduced his future wife to us. Both of them are college graduates. During their visit, he mentioned that it is now a requirement to attend a seminar on FAMILY Planning, before the couple could be married besides the one required by the catholic church. The seminar will be given by an employee from the Health and Social Services in conjunction with the municipal government of Boac. Macrine's nephew and future wife were told that the seminar will be at 1:00PM. They were at the office at 12:50PM. They waited until 1:45PM but there was no seminar. So they went directly to the office of the employee who was supposed to give the seminar. They were told, the seminar will not start until 4 couples are present. It was not until 3:00PM that THE SEMINAR started. When my nephew complained that this wait was a waste of time, the lady giving the seminar blurted out in tagalog " We are all Filipinos, so there is no reason why you are complaining, why this seminar is two hours late". The comment made my nephew fuming with anger, but he did not say anything. This incident is an example why the Philippines will never be as progressive as the US. If all our government employees has this attitude, I feel sorry for the Philippines and its future.