The Philippines currently does not observe daylight saving time, although it was enforced for short periods during the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936-1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.
DST was primarily intended to alleviate the energy crisis by minimizing the number of hours in which electric lighting was needed, reducing the strain on the national power grid. As power generation and transmission capacities improved, the practice was abandoned.
In April 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry again proposed that DST be re-implemented to help deal with rising oil prices.
In August 2014, President Benigno Aquino III was urged by LPGMA Partylist Representative Arnel Ty to observe DST from November 2014 to January 2015 and March to June 2015 to prepare for the power crisis in the country but the President did not implement the DST.