Dialect for identity, Language for liberation
(Or keeping Filipino in tertiary level
in spite of using English in this writeup)
By Lualhati Madlangawa Guererro
At first, sorry to use English despite being a patriot.
Citing comfortability as its reason, using English in this site somehow made readers around the would afford to read every post related to culture, arts, politics, or any other kind of whining being posted here.
But despite using English as its language of instruction in this site, and at the same time having most topics as patriotically inclined, yours truly didn't forget its roots as a Filipino, and therefore as a patriot has to keep firm in its roots, in its identity as contrary to those whom afford to ridicule those whom afford to write in English and at the same time keeping firm in its patriotism such as being a "Filipino." Yes, this person had speaks Filipino, but patriotism is more than just speaking the tounge or wearing the national dress, or nowadays taking pride in short-term feats, but also forging and building a future that is based on everyone's aspirations, from past, present, and future.
But speaking of the Filipino language, this person still continues to hear dispute over the language especially after attempts to reducing number of units if not scrapping the subject altogether at tertiary level. Some, if not most commentators had afford to join in a bandwagon calling for a dissolution of Filipino as a subject, with a variety of alibis such as globalization up to the most narrowest "waste of time and money" and "being learned year after year"; they favored English evenly citing its prominency as an international language and therefore "comfortable" in using it despite some, if not most resort to using Taglish in asking questions in subjects English being used.
Yet despite these people had afford to join in a bandwagon, favoring English as they could, are they really comfortable in using English most of the time? And what kind of English are they using? Is it American, British, Australian, or even Philippine English? Sometimes, yours truly had been ridiculing, even its own self as a writer why those whom are patriotic had to use major languages such as English instead of their own tongue in order for its people to understand, perhaps because they want to turn a language used by the oppressor into a language for liberation, alongside the use of their dialect as part of their identity; while those whom are choosing to join in the bandwagon of dissolving their own tongue would someday also willing to dissolve what makes a nation such as its own history, culture, all for the so-called demands of the market. So much for the intentional "openness" reduced what is patriotic, nationalistic into a piece of scrap paper waiting to be thrown away by an investment-crazed state.
After all, how come Southeast Asian patriots like Soetan Sjarhir used Dutch in his Indonesian pamphlet Onze Strijd? He should had used Bahasa Indonesia (and actually there's also Bahasa and English version as well with the latter being given to the parliamentarians at Westminster) instead since he's a patriot, but Onze Strijd tends to show on behalf of the learned Indonesians that Indonesians are capable of standing up for themsleves as a nation, but still he spoke and wrote Bahasa Indonesia for it is the language of his own homeland. Rizal did use Spanish in his novels and writeups as a learned man, trying to speak on behalf of the Filipinos the real situation towards Madre España, but in order to appeal to the common tao he has to speak Tagalog, or any dialect he had learned or understood. People may find it awkward why patriots speaks a foreign tongue rather than their native, it's not just because of comfortability as a learned being nor trying to instill a foreigner why they fight for national liberation or development, but to speak on behalf of the common man the tongue used for education, trade and commerce without sacrificing its own self to the interest of the few. Like what the late Lenin had said, they acted as ropes what capitalists being peddled, therefore it is up to the people whether they will use the rope to hang those who exploit.
And despite trying to have these people understood the importance of a native tongue why most chose to disregard Filipino altogether? Is it because Filipino is Tagalog and it harms other dialects? Is it because the Philippines has to integrate further as part of South East Asian Region? That English is an international language and has to be emphasised further? Filipino isn't Tagalog alone, for there are words coming from dialects north and south had been adapted to the national tongue itself. And in citing ASEAN integration and the dominant ethnicity is Malay then therefore Bahasa should been the language rather than English, and English isn't the sole international language, but also Russian, German, even the hated Chinese of the narrow-minded. Filipino is also the language of the diaspora, and thus it is also an international language becoming with most schools outside the country such as in the United States are also studying Filipino as a language.
Quite awkward so to speak that as the national language had gone international thanks to the diaspora, the ones in the archipelago chose to scrap the language altogether such as not being studied in the tertiary level. Most would dare to say practicality, but being practical at the expense of giving up studying identity and heritage is all but a living corpse no matter the alibi being insisted of. They would say about adding units means adding burden especially in tuition and other payments, but with or without Filipino there will always be tuition and other fee increases due to commercialization of education; there was one time a student from San Beda College had admitted that he failed in Filipino, and he even said that additional units meant additional burden to most students, but Professor David Michael San Juan of "Tanggol Wika" countered his statement by telling that one has to endure hardship in pursuit of a successful society the way those whom hate math hath end appreciating it, that he even cited the example of Indonesia with the works of Noam Chomsky, Karl Marx, or Victor Hugo had been understood by the common people as their works had been translated into Bahasa Indonesia! So what's wrong in studying Filipino in the tertiary level, much more in using Filipino in other subjects in lieu of English? Again, in spite of their appeals to dissolve the subject, some had resorted asking questions in Filipino, specifically Taglish citing difficulty to speak questions in English.
Anyways, yours truly would say that yes, she had used English, but again, she rather chose not to join in the nonsensical joyride of dissolving Filipino in tertiary level, or even disregarding Filipino altogether citing regional ethnocentrism, but instead joining hands with those whom trying to keep it, not because dissolving the subject leads to lay-offs professors and teaching personnel known for studying Filipino, but also harms subjects that also use the same language given. Worse, a total capitulation to the degenerative culture that harms respective societies such as the Philippines itself, for Globalization to some is Degeneration to most.
Agbiag ti Filipinas! Hasta la muerte! El pueblo armado vencera!