THE MARGINALIZATION OF THE ILOCANO LANGUAGE AND OTHER REGIONAL LANGUAGES IN THE PHILIPPINES

[Harold Schiffman]

THE MARGINALIZATION OF THE ILOCANO LANGUAGE
November 25, 2008 by Cles Rambaud



AND OTHER REGIONAL LANGUAGES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Clesencio B. Rambaud
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp., Intramuros, Manila
clesrambaud at yahoo.com

Paper read at the 18th World Congress
Shanghai International Convention Center, Shanghai, China
Agosto 4-7, 2008

Abstract

The Philippines initiated a move to develop a common language to unify
its more than 170 ethno-linguistic groups scattered in its archipelago
of more than 7,000 islands. Mainly based on Tagalog, the primary
language of Manila, the nation's capital, the proposed common language
called Pilipino then later Filipino was instituted by the government
not only as a separate subject to be taught in schools but also as a
medium of instruction which slowly flourished to the different parts
of the country. The popularization of the common language, however,
created controversies since Tagalog is not the majority language in
the country and English, a foreign language, remained as the major
means of communication in business, higher education and technological
fora. The promotion of the common language and of English language
resulted in the marginalization and, to some extent, helped hasten the
extinction of other languages especially those of the small ethnic
groups. There are a few ethno-linguistic groups, however, among them
the Ilocanos, who pursued vigorous efforts to promote and preserve
their language not only in their original place but also in other
areas where they migrated. Of late, some sectors, now aware of the
intrinsic value of smaller languages, are spearheading programs to
promote and document Philippine languages. Moreover, there is now even
a move to revive the use of the mother tongue in basic education.
Key words: Ilocano, mother tongue, marginalization, ethno-linguistic

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1. INTRODUCTION

The Philippines, like other countries in the Southeast Asian region,
is diverse in both its ethnic and linguistic makeup. The groups into
which Filipinos can be divided are based more on language than any
clear-cut ethnicity. Composed of more than 7,000 islands, the
country's leaders believe that the Filipinos can be unified by
developing a common language as a key to meet the country's objectives
for socio-economic success. On the other hand, the government is also
bent on maintaining the Philippine's distinction as an
English-speaking nation — a grand tribute to the Americans who, as
colonizers, ultimately won the hearts and minds of the Filipinos,
their "brown brothers" with their "stateside" goods and by educating
them to love all things American.

What the Spaniards were not able to achieve in their more than 300
years of colonization — which is the unconditional love by the
Filipinos — was achieved by the Americans in only less than 30 years.
Thus, born the Americanized Filipino who, to this day, may be able to
speak his mother tongue or the national tongue, relish in speaking and
thinking in English and treats his brother Filipinos who have lesser
education with condescending attitude.

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2. LEGAL BASES OF LANGUAGE UNIFICATION

It cannot be denied that languages are indeed essential to the
identity of groups and individuals and to their economic and peaceful
coexistence. They constitute a strategic factor of progress towards
sustainable development and a harmonious relationship between the
global and the local context. Hence, then Philippine President Manuel
Luis Quezon dreamed to unite the more than 170 ethno-linguistic groups
occupying the more than 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago
into one cohesive nation through the use of a single major language.

The President, who himself is a Tagalog, also wanted to carry out the
mandate of the 1935 Constitution which was in effect in the country
then for the Congress to take steps toward the development and
adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing
native languages.

To realize this vision, Quezon asked the Philippine National Assembly,
on October 27, 1936, to set up an agency of national language. The
main task of the proposed agency was to undertake a study of all
existing languages in the country and choose one as the basis of a
common language. The National Assembly responded quickly and on
November 13, 1936, Commonwealth Act 184 was enacted which created the
Institute of National Language.

Less than a year later, on November 9, 1937, the members of the
Institute of National Language composed of representatives of the
seven major Philippine languages namely: Samar-Leyte Visayan, Tagalog,
Ilocano, Cebuano Visayan, Panay Visayan, Bikolano and Moro declared
that after a thorough study, they have chosen Tagalog as the basis of
a language to be developed and promoted as a national language.

This elated Quezon and, on December 30, 1937, he officially announced
the unanimous approval not only by the members of the Institute but
also by Filipino scholars and patriots of divergent origin and varied
education and tendencies for the selection of Tagalog as the basis of
the national language.

Subsequent Philippine leaderships also exerted vigorous efforts to
promote Tagalog as the national language. In the 1943 Constitution
under the Japanese Government, Article IX provided that the government
will take steps to develop and propagate Tagalog as the national
language. The 1973 Constitution also included under its General
Provisions for the National Assembly to take steps towards the
development and formal adoption of a common national language to be
known as Filipino. The Constitution, however, mentioned English as one
of the official languages in the country.

The present Philippine Constitution adapted in 1987, also contained
pertinent sections supporting previous constitutional directives which
declared that the national language of the Philippines is Filipino to
be developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and
other languages. It also stressed that 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 (Art. XIV, Sec. 6).

The basic law further mentioned that for purposes of communication and
instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino
and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages
were assigned the auxiliary official languages in the regions and will
serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic
shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis (Art. XIV, Sec.
7). The Congress was also directed to 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 (Art. XIV, Sec. 9).

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2.1 From Tagalog to Pilipino to Filipino

The Tagalog language did develop as a national language from the time
President Quezon approved it as the basis of a Philippine national
language. The Tagalog language was soon called Pilipino (in 1959),
then renamed Filipino (in 1973). The reason for this, among other
things, is clearly to make the language more palatable to the
non-Tagalogs or those not belonging to the Tagalog tribe.

Before the inception of Tagalog as the basis of a common language, the
non-Tagalogs, especially the Visayans, whose language — the Visayan
Cebuano, Visayan Panay and Visayan Leyte-Samar — dominated the Tagalog
language speakers. Even more than 10 years later, in 1948 (after the
Second World War), the Visayan-speaking Cebuanos comprised 25 percent
of the Philippine population as compared to the Tagalog speakers which
consisted of only 19 percent [1]. Thus, it was the Visayans who
vehemently fought against the implementation of Tagalog as "the basis
of a national language." The reason is clear: among the Philippine
languages, their language was the more dominant language as far as the
number of native speakers is concerned. But Tagalog, which is the
language of Manila, the seat of the national government, was already
predetermined to become the basis of the national language.
To appease the wounded feelings of the Visayans, President Quezon
appointed Jaime C. de Veyra, representing the Visayan Leyte-Samar, as
Chairman of the Institute of National Language. Some observers said
this was to make de Veyra the scapegoat the moment the Tagalog
language is chosen as the national language.

Another reason why Tagalog was renamed Filipino is to make it appear
as the "national language" or the "language of the whole Filipino
nation". The fact, however, remained that the Filipino language is the
same as the Tagalog language. Many observers say it is the same dog
with a different collar.

The Tagalog or the Filipino language, having been instituted as the
national language of the Philippines, and mandated to be used as a
medium of instruction and communication in the country, received the
much needed support, financial or otherwise, from the taxpayers. The
writing and printing of the official Tagalog grammar (or Balarila in
the native tongue) was financed by the government and was distributed
to all schools of the archipelago. Tagalog or Filipino is taught not
only as a separate subject but is also used as a medium of instruction
in Philippine schools, public and private, from kindergarten up to
undergraduate levels. The English language, however, enjoys the same
support as it is also mandated by all Philippine Constitutions as a
medium of instruction and communication in the Philippines except
during the Japanese occupation.

Reference materials and textbooks written in Tagalog and English
abound to the delight of book writers in Tagalog and in English. Press
conferences are annually held to determine the best writers in these
two languages. Students in the Ilocano- and Visayan-speaking
provinces, on the other hand, were encouraged, coerced, and forced to
speak and write fluent Tagalog and English. In some schools, students
were fined if they were caught speaking in their mother tongue.

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3. DECLINE OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

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Although Tagalog or Filipino has been instituted as the national
language, the English language enjoys a higher hierarchy than Tagalog
does. In fact, students who cannot speak English fluently are
generally considered to be dim-witted. The connection between English
proficiency and being knowledgeable in the Philippines is
understandable because almost all textbooks in the undergraduate and
graduate levels are written in English. Even in the grade schools, one
cannot hope to learn mathematics and science if one does not know his
English. One must first learn the language before learning the
necessary skills in mathematics and science.

It is unfortunate, therefore, that there had been alarming signs of
English deterioration in the country. Official achievement tests given
to graduating high school students in the school year 2004-2005 showed
that only 6.59 percent could read, speak, and comprehend English well
enough to enter college. Some 44.25 percent had no English skills at
all.

The culprit, they say, was the bilingual program of the government
adopted in 1987 to promote the use of Filipino. Under the program,
both English and Filipino are used as medium of instruction in
Philippine schools. This program, some analysts say, made the students
less proficient in both languages.

To slow down the decline of English proficiency and of education, the
current Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, instructed the
Department of Education to strengthen the teaching English in public
schools as early as 2003. On May 17, 2003, President Arroyo
promulgated Executive Order No. 210 titled "Establishing the Policy to
Strengthen English as a Second Language in the Educational System."
The objective of the policy was "to develop the aptitude, competence
and proficiency of all students in the use of the English language to
make them better prepared for the job opportunities emerging in the
new, technology-driven sectors of the economy". The salient points of
the executive order include the following: (1) English should be
taught as a second language at all levels of the educational system,
starting with the first grade; (2). English should be used as the
medium of instruction for mathematics and science from at least the
third grade level; (3) The English language shall be used as a primary
medium of instruction in all public institutions of learning at the
secondary level.

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The EO, however, did not take effect immediately for one reason or
another. It was only in 2006 that the Department of Education issued
the implementing rules of the said EO. As expected, a "language war"
erupted. Prominent writers and educators including National Artists
for Literature Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera and Romulo
Baquiran Jr. of the Filipinas Institute of Translation Inc. asked the
Supreme Court to block the implementation of Executive Order No. 210.
They said that the use of English caused the deterioration of the
educational system in the country and put the poorer students at a
disadvantage. They also pointed out that it has ironically hampered
the students' ability to learn English, alienating them from their
cultural heritage. They said using Filipino or the regional languages
to teach the students would help them learn better, as shown by
studies.

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Other sectors said the government only wants the Filipinos to be
English proficient so that they can apply for jobs abroad. Others
openly supported the President's directive because, as one says, "its
rejection and treatment as 'foreign' is a twisted form of
self-loathing that some people wish us all to practice as
'nationalism.' English is unavoidably the lingua franca of the world
in this historical epoch, even if it irks the Filipino nationalists
and their ideologies of resentment."

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4. MARGINALIZATION OF OTHER ETHNIC LANGUAGES

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The question is, "What has happened to the other Philippine languages
as a result of the government's policy of developing and promoting a
national language based on the Tagalog language and its penchant of
also trying to make the country an English-speaking nation?"
In the 1960s or early 1970s, it would have been unthinkable for
students in the Ilocano-speaking provinces to speak Filipino outside
their classrooms. Speaking in Tagalog then was jeered upon and was
considered as a "try-hard" effort to appear cosmopolitan. Radio
broadcasts and radio dramas were in the Ilocano language or have been
translated from Tagalog.

Ilocano students were only encouraged to learn Tagalog and English to
appear being educated. They were taught English terms, fruits like
apples, and other objects they have not seen. They were also taught
about the life and works of Francisco Baltazar, the Tagalog writer
known for his long poem "Florante at Laura" (Florante and Laura)." The
irony, however, is that the students during those days did not know
Pedro Bucaneg, a fellow Ilocano, who wrote the epic "Biag ni Lam-ang
(Life of Lam-ang)."

Those were also the times when learners talked to their pets in
English and also gave them Americanized names like Whitey (for white),
Blackie (for black) or Spot (because it has spots). Those days, too,
gave birth to rural youth's dreams to go to Manila for they were so
awed by those who had gone to this great city with their ease in the
Tagalog language and more so, to the United States of America, which
they heard to be a "land of milk and honey" and where they could eat
all the red and luscious apples they wanted.

The Tagalog language, during those years, was only confined to the
classrooms in the Ilocano-speaking provinces (Ilocandia or the land of
the Ilocanos). In the early 1980s, however, television networks based
in Manila set up relay stations in the provinces. This started the
influence of Tagalog in Ilocano homes. Almost all programs like soap
operas (including some Mexican telenovelas), movies, news, and
commentaries were aired in Tagalog. Radio FM stations also sprouted
like mushrooms with disc jockeys speaking either in English or
Tagalog. Slowly, Tagalog crept to the people's everyday activities,
making the Ilocanos sounding like the Tagalogs with an Ilocano accent.

Nowadays, it is no longer unusual to hear children of school age
playing boisterously in some remote village road speaking in Ilocano
interspersed with Tagalog or either talking in Ilocano or in fluent
Tagalog. It is also common these days for the non-Tagalogs to get the
top prizes in Tagalog writing tilts in national press contests. Also,
some Ilocano professional writers themselves are now writing in
Tagalog as if it were their first language.

This is, therefore, a clear indication that Tagalog or the Filipino
language is no longer the domain of the Tagalog-speaking provinces. It
has become, or is becoming, the language of the nation as President
Quezon envisioned more than 70 years ago. With the institution of the
Tagalog language as a medium of instruction and a separate subject in
all grade levels in Philippine schools, and with the help of mass
media especially the television, the Tagalog language is gaining a
stronghold as truly the Philippine's national language.

This translates to an Ilonggo who is now able to communicate with an
Ilocano in a language common to both of them which is Tagalog or
Filipino. The more than 170 ethno-linguistic groups in the country are
able to communicate with each other now through a common language,
something which they could not do during the time of President Quezon.

But this "one language, one nation" policy may come at a high price
and the price is the ultimate death of the other Philippine languages.
It may not come today or early in the future but the alarm has been
sounded that it will come if no action is taken to preserve these
languages, more so with the renewed calls for strengthening of the
role of English in the Philippine educational system.

The smaller indigenous languages will suffer the most. In fact, four
Philippine languages are already extinct because of the "negative
attitude" of the speakers to their language, meaning that they have
opted to speak in a language other than their own (Gordon, 2005).

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5. TOUGH ILOCANO LANGUAGE

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The Ilocano language is fortunate because it still boasts of 7 to 8
million speakers, making it still as one of the four major languages
of the Philippines (the other three are Tagalog, Cebuano, and
Hiligaynon) in spite of the intrusion of the Tagalog and English
languages in places where the language is spoken through the support
of the national government. Many Ilocanos may have adopted Tagalog or
English as their second and third languages but still, they have not
forsaken their mother tongue. However, this does not mean that the
Ilocano language is not threatened by the onslaught of the Tagalog and
English languages.

Consider the facts that Ilocano (spoken mainly in the northern part of
the Philippines), had at least 12 percent of the total population of
19.2 million as speakers as indicated by the 1948 national census; in
1960, it was down to 11 percent of the total population of 27 million;
in 1975, it remained at 11 percent of the total population of 42
million; in the census of 1990, it was down to 9 percent of the total
population of 60.7 million; and surprisingly, in the 1995 census, it
was up to 9.31 percent of the total population of 68.6 million, but
then, in 2000 census of population from 76.5 million Philippine
residents, it dropped again to 9 percent.
The Tagalog language, on the other hand, was spoken by 19 percent of
the total Philippine population in 1948. In the 2000 census, its
number of speakers increased to 28 percent of the total population.
That figure, however, may not represent the true picture of the
Tagalog language because Tagalog and Filipino are treated as separate
languages; and that Filipino is spoken "throughout the country"
(Gordon, 2005).

Informal surveys conducted in the 1990s by the Ilocano magazine
Bannawag [2] in some secondary schools in the Ilocano-speaking
provinces also showed that most students preferred to read Tagalog or
English magazines than those written in their mother tongue (Ilocano).
Although they admited that Ilocano was the medium of communication in
their own homes and in their own localities, they said they find it
hard to read Ilocano magazines because the "words used are too
archaic" for them. The students were also found to be unable to write
in "straight Ilocano" which means that they did not know their grammar
and spelling. The students couldn't be blamed; they were trained, in
early age, to write (and speak) in Tagalog and English, and that both
languages, being the medium of instruction have been used since they
were in the grade school, which changed the way they looked at their
mother tongue.
While the Ilocano language was able, at least, to maintain its
position as a major language, the Cebuano language did not fare
better. In 1948, the Cebuano speakers accounted for 25 percent of the
population. In the year 2000, they are down to 13 percent. Compare
this again to Tagalog speakers, who, in 1948, accounted for 19 percent
of the population. In the year 2000, they already comprised 28 percent
of the population.

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5.1 Passion to Promote the Ilocano Language

But the reason that the Ilocano language has fared better than most of
the Philippine languages can be attributed, among others, to the
adventurous spirit of the Ilocanos and of their being proud of their
race. From the narrow plains of the Ilocos region in the northwestern
Philippines where they originally lived, many Ilocanos braved the
treacherous seas and trails and migrated to the vast plains of the
Cagayan Valley in the northeastern part of the country, to some
provinces in Central Luzon. They also moved to the island of Mindanao
in the southern Philippines and to the state of Hawaii, bringing with
them their language and culture. Bearing a stronger culture, they
"Ilocanized" most of the places they chose to settle in.

Known also as a cohesive group, the Ilocanos produced leaders of
national stature, foremost among them in recent memory are three
Philippine presidents, Ramon Magsaysay, Ferdinand E. Marcos, and Fidel
V. Ramos, who, unfortunately had more important things in mind than a
seemingly trivial matter called language.

The Ilocanos' love of their language and culture is manifested in
their continuing support for their most popular weekly magazine, the
Bannawag (Dawn), which was launched in 1934. In 1968, this magazine
initiated the Ilocano Writers Association of the Philippines or GUMIL
Filipinas, as it is officially known, and whose objective, among
others (as contained in its Constitution and By-Laws) is "to enrich
the Ilocano literature and cultural heritage as phases of the national
identity by encouraging its members to concentrate on writing
extensively and intensively about the social, economic, cultural and
other aspects of growth and development among the Ilocanos through
literature, history, research, or the like."

As of this writing, the group has already published more than 100
volumes of literary work, and some have already been already
translated to Tagalog and English. The group is also holding annual
conferences where the Ilocano language and the craft of writing are
thoroughly discussed and where young writers are encouraged to write
in their mother tongue.

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Teachers or workers from the academe comprise a big chunk of the
members and they have been helpful enough to disseminate and impart
the importance of nurturing and safeguarding the mother tongue through
organizing school chapters of GUMIL Filipinas. This may not be in
consonance with the directive of the national government to maximize
the role of English in all Philippine schools but school officials in
the Ilocos provinces sympathize with the objectives of the Ilocano
writers' group because some of them are Ilocano writers themselves,
having contributed to Bannawag in their younger years, or having used
Bannawag to promote their schools.

Literary contests are also held annually to entice Ilocano writers to
produce their best works. These contests are sponsored by individual
Ilocanos in support of the objectives of GUMIL Filipinas. The writers
association, too, like all other regional writers' organizations and
other organizations sympathetic to their cause, have also been
badgering the government to give importance to the regional languages
and to give them their due as mandated by the Philippine Constitution.

The past few years also saw the economic importance of the Ilocano
language, at least, in Hawaii, U.S.A. with the University of Hawaii at
Manoa opening its Ilocano Language and Literature Program. They found
that a growing number of business establishments in that State are in
need of employees who can speak the language. The program gave birth
to the Nakem International Conferences where cultural workers,
scholars, researchers, and members of the academe especially those in
state universities and colleges in Northern Philippines can
participate in nurturing not only the Ilocano language and culture but
also the language and culture of the other ethno-linguistic groups in
Northern Philippines.

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6. GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE OF REGIONAL LANGUAGES

The national government's support of Ilocano culture and language or
of the other cultures and languages is nil. There were times when the
Cultural Center of the Philippines gave writing grants to writers
other than Tagalog and English writers. But the agency eventually
scrapped the project due to financial worries. The National Commission
for Culture and the Arts is also benevolent to the plight of regional
languages. Whenever its budget allows, it presents a writing grant to
a regional writer or two, helps in the publication of books written in
the major languages, and gives financial support to literary seminars
and workshops and other cultural activities.

But these support are not seriously implemented because they do not
address the problems the regional languages have been confronting for
decades, that of having been placed on the sidelines in favor of the
Tagalog and English languages.

However, it must be clarified that the issue here is not that the
Tagalog or English languages have to be accepted or not by the other
Philippine ethno-linguistic groups. Tagalog or Filipino has already
been accepted as the common language of the Philippine archipelago as
evidenced by the growing number of speakers of this language.

The English language has even the better edge than the Tagalog
language because it is the language of business and power in the
country. English is the primary medium of instruction of higher
learning and all licensure examinations are conducted in this
language. The country's decision makers conduct their affairs not in
Tagalog but in the English language. In short, Tagalog may have become
the language of the Filipino people but the future of the country is
decided, irony of all ironies, by a foreign tongue. Given this
situation, it is then imperative for any Filipino student, whether he
likes it or not, to be able to communicate well in the English
language.

The issue, therefore, is not for any Filipino to say that he is
against the Filipino and English languages. The issue is for the
government to give more importance to the mother tongues and to
instill their value to the country's young minds. Studies show that
the best way to promote critical thinking is to make use of the
student's ability to think in his or her first language (Quakenbush,
2007). But it takes more than that. Instilling in the student's young
mind that his language is not inferior to any other language will help
him develop self-confidence, self-reliance, and pride of his ancestry.
One of the author's friends who once lived among the Isinai tribe in
the province of Nueva Vizcaya recounted a story about an Isinai mother
advising her son who is about to go to Manila that he should not tell
anyone in the city that he is an Isinai.

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7. LANGUAGE REINFORCEMENT AND USE OF MOTHER TONGUE

Language plays an important role in the complex development of an
individual. If the mother tongue, or the language used by the child in
his everyday living, is also the language used as the medium of
instruction until the completion of his formal education, imagine the
impact of that language to the child's education. The Filipino
student, in the present Philippine educational setting, can only
cringe with envy to students of other countries who do not need to
spend years of studying a foreign language even before he can begin to
understand what he is learning about and, after he graduates, finds
out that he has learned nothing.

But, of course, the Filipino student has no choice at the moment but
to accept the reality that the Philippine educational system is an
aberration. He goes to school with the dream that all of a sudden, his
English textbooks are already written or translated into Ilocano (if
he is an Ilocano), or Cebuano (if he is a Cebuano), or if not, into
his own national language, Filipino. He aspires that his mathematics
and science books are written in a language he can readily understand
and, in the classroom, he can expound his ideas in his very own
tongue. He dreams that his favorite Harry Potter books are already
translated into his mother tongue. He hopes that if he is to learn a
foreign tongue, it is because he loves to do it or it is because his
future job needs it and not because he is forced to do it. He wishes
that the lawmakers, the justices, and the all the powers-that-be of
his country would debate his future in a language he can comprehend.

The proclamation of 2008 as the International Year of the Languages by
the United Nations General Assembly brought a ray of hope to advocates
of regional languages in the Philippines. Citing the importance of all
the world's languages in achieving the six goals of education for all
(EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on which the United
Nations agreed in 2000, which, among others, are its role in the
eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and as support for
literacy, learning and life skills, the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization urged governments, in the wake of
the threat that half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world may
disappear, "to encourage and develop language policies that enable
each linguistic community to use its first language, or mother tongue,
as widely and as often as possible, including in education" (Matsuura,
2007).

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The Philippines, in response to this call, has now in its Senate for
consideration, the Omnibus Education Reform Act of 2008 which, among
others, mandates the use of mother tongue as medium of instruction for
grades 1 to 6, noting that early education in the local language is
more effective.

For its part, the Philippine's House of Representatives has its own
version of the proposed law. House Bill 3719 which aims at upgrading
the government's literacy program, will institutionalize the child's
first language to be used as the primary medium of instruction in all
subjects from pre-school up to the end of the child's elementary
education. The bill's proponent noted that by "using the language the
child understands not only affirms the value of the child and his
cultural heritage but also enables the child to immediately master the
lessons in the school curriculum and at the same time facilitates the
acquisition of Filipino and English."

The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, the newly reorganized Institute of
Filipino Language, which was mandated by the Philippine's present
Constitution to "promote researches for the development, propagation,
and preservation of Filipino and other languages" is now spearheading
the adoption of House Bill 3719. In addition, the KFW, now
compassionate to the plight of the regional languages, is developing
an on-line Philippine Language Corpus with the assistance of the
National Commission for Culture and the Arts. With the passing of the
Omnibus Education Reform Act of 2008, which is inevitable, the
Filipino youth may have yet a chance to be himself.

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8. NOTES
[1]All figures pertaining to population and percentage of speakers
were supplied by Edwin Camaya of the Defenders of Indigenous Languages
of the Archipelago (DILA) Philippines.
[2] A weekly Ilocano magazine published by Liwayway Publishing, Inc.
(LPI) with offices at Makati City, Philippines until LPI closed shop
in early 2005. The magazine did not miss an issue, however, because
the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. (sister company of LPI) with
offices at Intramuros, Manila City, Philippines continued publishing
the magazine together with the magazine's sister publications namely
Liwayway (a Tagalog magazine), Bisaya (a Cebuano magazine), Hiligaynon
(an Ilonggo magazine), and Balita (a daily newspaper in Tagalog).

.
9. REFERENCES
[1] Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the
World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online
version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
[2] UNESCO, "Message from Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of
UNESCO, on the celebration of 2008, International Year of Languages".
Online: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35559&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
[3] Quakenbush, J. Stephen. (2007). "The Larger Importance of Smaller
Languages". Manila Bulletin, December 16, 2007.

http://bilingualpen.com/2008/11/25/the-marginalization-of-the-ilocano-language/

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