[2] If tardiness is minor or without interference with employer's operations, it is not to be legally considered as misconduct.
[18] Some sources identify the origins of the Filipino's lack of punctuality to the Spanish colonial period, as arriving late was considered to be a sign of status back then, as depicted in a scene in Chapter 22 of José Rizal's novel El Filibusterismo.
[19][20][21] An alternative interpretation of "Filipino time" sets aside its negative connotations by considering the very concept as an example case of the unsuccessful attempt at imposing Western cultural standards (such as the notion of "time") on Filipino and other non-Western cultures and thus as a successful tool of national resistance.
[23] The 1976 National Artist of the Philippines for Literature Nick Joaquin challenged the narrative of Spanish colonial roots of "Filipino time", instead identifying its origins in the pre-colonial culture of timelessness before the introduction of the "foreign tyrant clock" during the Spanish era, and thus to the local resistance against the transition from the pre-colonial clockless society to the foreign-imposed clock-based culture.
The habit of being late of former President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo was known as "Cabana time" after his place of birth.