Does "be on time" a importance in your city/country?

I think it's extremely important to be on time. I think most people in my country (US) do, but there are those who are habitually late. I've been known to go do whatever it was I was going to do and not wait. I think it's impolite to be late and not call and let people know you're going to be late...and why.

In the Philippines we have the so-called Filipino time. If you say an appointment or an event will begin at 5:00, it's normal for people to arrive at 5:30. So what you would do is tell people that the appointment is at 4:30, so they'd arrive at 5:00. Personally I am a punctual person so Filipino time annoys me. In formal situations, like at work or in school, one must be on time. But when meeting friends, going to a wedding, party, baptismal, etc., most people are late.

I don't think it depends on what country you're from, I think it depends on the person. There are people who just procrastinate so they arrive late most of the time. I do procrastinate but it's only when I don't like to go out or do the task, etc.. There are people, though, that are timelords they arrive early or just in time. They seem to have a good grasp of time. These are the people who are reliable and who has the chance to be successful in life.

I am a filipino by race but I am not a typical one. I have been very punctual with my meetings whether it be casual or business. I have been dealing with different nationalities and most of the time I am out of my country. At times that I am in the Philippines, I really get irritated that my people's habit is to come one hour late from the agreed time. It seems to be accepted by the society already. During parties and other celebrations, people will come really late. Time is not valued that much by my people the way other nationalities do.

Too funny as when anyone of my Hispanic acquaintance are late to events and we do not want them to be late, we always say make sure you arrive as such and such American not Hispanic time. Too funny as I too am Hispanic and use to be like this now somehow I have changed my ways as when I have to be somewhere I usually arrive at least 30 minutes early.

I live in Florida and I am cuban, so for us it is very common to always be running late. They actually call it "Running on cuban time". Most of the people I know when decide to through like a kids party or just a family get together they put on the invitations party will start at 2PM, because they know that no one will show up til upto 3PM or even 4PM. It's funny sometimes we even put on the invitation it's self we'll put 3PM and in parenthesis (this include cuban time already). So actually this happens very often in my culture.