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Article: Losing Tagalog.(Opinion & Editorial)
- Article from:
- Manila Bulletin
- Article date:
- July 24, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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YOU will probably agree that we are not only forgetting English, we are also losing Tagalog. No, I am not a purist, though I must confess, I derive great pleasure in listening to those who can speak Tagalog in its romantic, classical form, like Senator Blas Ople.
We have all read somewhere that in 1938, during the American Commonwealth and largely due to the influence of President Manuel Quezon (a Tagalog), the government decreed the creation of a national language based on that dialect. Post-war Congress renamed the national language Pilipino (in 1973, Filipino) to appease irate nonTagalog speakers. If I am not mistaken, in the 1986 Constitution, ...