The Evolution of Filipino, The National Language of the Philippines:
Its metamorphosis from 1935 Constitution to Freedom Constitution
By:
ELRIC MATILLANO BATILARAN
(February 24, 2011)
Introduction
We are now in a global scenario. There is no turning down the salient statement of learning the English language in writing or in speaking. To be globally viable, the Philippine government itself has made pronouncements with regards to the significant meaning of being good speakers of English (Funtecha 2008). This is why, in many of the schools in the Philippines, English has been used as a medium of instructions. More often than not, English is most preferred language of communication too. Now we can probably frame some relevant questions such as, a) Is there still a necessary need for the Filipinos to use their national language?, b) How important is it to study the Filipino Language?, and c) How does the Philippine Constitution stipulate the salience of having Filipino Language as a national language?
The number of languages and dialects spoken in the entire archipelago of more or less 7, 107 islands is a clear proof of the cultural diversity of the Filipinos. This is one of the reasons why it took more than three centuries, after the arrival in the Philippines of the Europeans in the 16th century, for Filipinos to become a cohesive integrated national community (Perdon 2008). It was in the 1930s that this language problem was comprehended in the Philippines. Manuel L. Quezon who became one of the country’s presidents first pushed the idea of a single language for the Filipinos (Perdon 2008). How did it all start? What factors led into the constitutionality of creating a national language for the Filipinos?
Language and Culture
Language is arguably the most imperative piece of culture since much of the rest of it is conveyed orally. Meaning, it is hard to value the brittle shadow and profound gist of another culture devoid of knowing its language in a good way. Therefore, the thought of examining the languages and dialects of the Philippines is very much sensible with a noble desire of uniting the Filipinos into a single rhythm based on the major dialects of the whole archipelago as a method of transmission of ideas, feelings, and ambitions.
There are indeed countless aspects to any culture, but language is probably the single most important one. Therefore, it is a down to earth piece of evidence that a community cannot get on until it has a proper language to be in touch with people. It must be recalled that the Philippines started to work for the promotion of Filipino as the country’s national language during the Commonwealth era in the 1930s (Alas 2009). It was when the then national president Manuel L. Quezon pushed the sound idea of a single language for the Filipinos after recognizing the language problem in the country. He was a ‘tagalog’ speaker from Baler, Tayabas now the Quezon Province.
Greatly, however until now the people cannot even agree on what the Filipino language really is. Worst, there exists some oppositions to the use of Filipino as a national language even in the singing of the country’s national anthem. While other neighboring countries that had started late in ameliorating a national language already have a word of their respective languages, the Filipinos could not even resolve yet what to carry out. Indonesia for example being the largest archipelago in the entire globe having more or less a thousand languages can already claim to have Bahasa, its national language (Funtecha 2008). So how stern is the provision in the Philippine Constitution of identifying ‘Filipino’ as the national language of the country? What are the core basis of its identification as such?
The Commonwealth Story: 1935 Constitution
As earlier mentioned, it was during the 1935 Constitutional Convention when the then country’s president Quezon worked very hard for the inclusion of a provision that would require the development of a national language for the Filipinos. It was in the Commonwealth Constitution when such realization came into being. What prompted this realization? Let us try to examine first what significant features the Commonwealth Constitution has.
It has been said that the Commonwealth of the Philippines was a designation of the Philippines from 1935 to 1946 when the country was a commonwealth of the United States. The Commonwealth was created by the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1934 (Philippine History 2010-online). Manuel L. Quezon’s inauguration as president in 1935, had made him the first Filipino to head a government of the Philippines. The Commonwealth government was in exile from 1942 until 1945, when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation (Lewis 1984). The Commonwealth ended in 1946 and the Philippines was declared a republic.
The Commonwealth had its own constitution, which remained effective until 1973 and was self-governing although foreign policy and military affairs would be under the responsibility of the United States, and certain legislation required the approval of the American President (Dolan 1991). In 1939-40, after an amendment in the Constitution, a bicameral Congress consisting of a Senate and of a House of Representatives was restored replacing the National Assembly (Stanley 1974).
But one most significant feature that commonwealth constitution had was the push to realize a national language for the Filipinos (Alas 2009). Due to the diverse number of Philippine languages, an agendum for the development and adoption of a common national language based on the existing native dialects was drafted. Alas (2009) explained that Tagalog which is a dialect spoken in Manila was proposed as the national language. But that created a commotion among the non-Tagalog speakers who objected the proposal. Many scholars say that the decision to choose Tagalog over other languages in the Philippines is that the said language is the language of the country’s capital, Manila (Alas 2009). Furthermore, Tagalog was the language of the 1896 Revolution and the Katipunan. And once more, the hub of stroke during the Revolution was in Tagalog Manila. Another basis is that Tagalog has a vast treasure trove of literary works (Alas 2009). This means that Tagalog has published more books compared to other native languages. But for all we know, another factor could be president Quezon’s Tagalog origin. Yet, It is not as easy as a pie to win over the Filipinos to say yes to Tagalog as the national language since there are several other languages to consider. So the schemers have instituted an apt argument in the persona of National Hero Jose Rizal by using his poem – “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” (To My fellow Youth). Take into account this passage from the said poem with an English translation (Yoder 2007).
Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.
(This is the English Translation)
One who doesn't love his native tongue,
Is worse than putrid fish and beast;
And likely a truly precious thing
Therefore deserves to be cherished.
However even at this tempo, this language commotion has not disappeared. That protestation rubbed out the word ‘Tagalog’ and replaced by a phrase “ one of the existing native languages”. Here is the document from the Commonwealth Constitution.
Article XIV: General Provisions Section 2
“ The Congress shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a national language based on one of the existing native languages. Until otherwise provided by law, English and Spanish shall continue as official languages.
In pursuance of this mandate, the National Assembly, the lawmaking body of the Philippines at that time, created the “Surian ng Wikang Pambansa” (Institute of National Language) to study which among the native languages could be developed and adopted as the national language of the Philippines (Perdon 2008). The INL was composed of a chairman and members representing the major native languages of the Philippines such as Ilocos, Pangasinan, Ibanag, Pampango, Tagalog, Bikol, Hiligaynon, (Ilonggo), Cebuano, Samar-Leyte and Maguindanaw (Perdon 2008). Their task is to prepare a dictionary and grammar. Hence, was born the “Balarila ng Wikang Pambansa” authored by the great Filipino lexicon and writer, Lope K. Santos (Rubrico 1998). As anticipated, so many feedbacks were received about the publication. According to some, it just made things of inferior quality and in effect massacred the Filipino alphabet which assassinates many Filipino words in the course.
The creation of the INL to make a study and survey of each of the existing native languages with a view to choosing one which was to be used as a basis for the national of the Philippines resulted to have three main contenders : Tagalog, Visayan, and Ilocano (Alas 2009). In 1938, the INL was dissolved and replaced with the National Language Institute (NLI). Its purpose was to prepare for the nationwide teaching of the Tagalog-Based national Language ( Wikang Pambansa na Batay sa Tagalog) by creating a dictionary and a grammar book (Rubrico 1998). During the World War II, the Japanese encouraged the use of the National Language rather than English in the schools (Agoncillo 2001). The Tagalog-Based National Language was, therefore, propagated not only in education but also in mass media and in official communication (Rubrico 1998; Tan 2001).
The 1973 Constitution Account
The 1973 Constitution states the National Assembly should endeavor towards developing and formally adopting a common national language to be called Filipino.
1973 Philippine Constitution
Article XV
Section 3. (1) This Constitution shall be officially promulgates in English and in Pilipino, and translated into each dialect spoken by over fifty thousand people, and into Spanish and Arabic. In case of conflict, the English text shall prevail.
(2) The National Assembly shall take steps towards the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.
(3) Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages.
Interim, Pilipino and English continue the official languages except revoked by law. Pilipino had adopted a lot of words from the Spanish language, historically with Spain who colonized the country for over 300 years. These words are carried over to Filipino as Pilipino, as these lexical pieces have now undergone phonological and morphological transformations and eventually come out to be native terms (Rubrico 1998).
The 1987 Constitution Views
In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language. Article XIV, Section 6, skips over any cite of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and asserts that:
ARTICLE XIV
EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ARTS,
CULTURE AND SPORTS
LANGUAGE
Section 6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.
Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.
Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.
The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.
Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.
Section 8. This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be translated into major regional languages, Arabic, and Spanish.
Section 9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages.
In here, the issue on the national language of the Philippines was finally settled. This constitution also provided that subject to provision of law and as the congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take appropriate actions to set off and keep up the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. Section 7 clearly illustrated this rationale. With this, it is anticipated that for the coming years, the Philippines will be a Filipino lingua franca speaking country which is indeed a great achievement from its inception during the commonwealth era. But after more than 65 years, has Filipino truly transformed into a Philippine national Language? What about the persistent influence of English or other foreign languages on today’s speakers?
Again, I would like to bring our attention to the country’s greatest national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal who once tangibly expressed the chief value of loving the Philippines through loving the language. He wrote in Filipino: "Ang di marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, ay mas masahol pa sa malansang isda." He asserted that it is indeed hard to reflect on one as a nationalist if he was feeling shame of his own language. This is an interesting vista for one who does not give worth to his native language (whether national or regional). Now, it is a sad reality to make a note of how most Filipinos admire their countrymen who are adept in speaking and writing English. As a result, most consider those who are not good in the English language intellectually inferior.
According to Perdon (2008), the wider use of Filipino during the People’s Power Revolution in 1986 added credibility to the national language. The late former President Corazon Aquino sponsored Provincial Constitution known as “Freedom Constitution” and ordered to publish it in English and Filipino. Going back to the previous constitutions discussed above, we can frame such relevant understanding that only in 1987 Constitution when a separate part titled “Language” having four sections is incorporated. This is a significant development in the context of national language. Moreover, in February 1987, it was approved in a nationwide plebiscite that “Filipino” should be the new name of the national language of the country with emphasis for the government to “initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as a language of instruction in the educational system.”
Summing up the constellation of arguments stated earlier, we have looked into this Filipino language as it develops from 1935 onwards to the present. In 1959 Pilipino acquired the term "Pilipino" to take out the last relics of "tagalogism" and stamp its national makeup. In the 1970s, we saw Pilipino finally being used as medium of instruction at many academic institutions especially at the primary and secondary levels. Finally, we have appreciated its 1987 constitutional enshrinement as "Filipino" to the present - a union of Pilipino or Tagalog, and Spanish. It is also very apparent that we also have a strong hold for English in some of the common conversations.
Conclusion
I am personally in common business with the observation that a national language can be a unifying concept of our continuing struggle against our colonizers and of freeing ourselves from our colonial mindset (Atienza 1996, Maceda 1996). The evolution of the Wikang Pambansa, now known as Filipino, has not remained run of the mill as one hits upon from its historical perspective.
I admit, it is a necessary important undertaking for the Filipinos to be able to correspond very sound in English. Yet, let us not forget our noble responsibility in loving our beautiful country and Filipino as our national language. I am importantly convinced that it is only thru our national language that we are able to make ourselves distinctly Filipinos from the other peoples especially in Asia. This is one utterly salient endeavor that we can bond ourselves in the context of national identity to the real sense of Filipino spirit.
Reference
A Complete Collection of Philippine Constitutions – online
2008 Retrieved Editions: 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines,1935 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines
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