Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
IN four days, our country will end its celebration of National Language and Culture Month. We have been doing this annual commemoration officially for 26 years, ever since then-president Fidel Ramos issued Proclamation 1041 on July 15, 1997, declaring August as "Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Month)." August was chosen as the month for this celebration because the birth and death of the father of the Philippine national language, former president Manuel L. Quezon, happened in this month. President Quezon, who was also the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth, declared on Dec. 30, 1937, that Tagalog should be the basis of our national language. The celebration of the national language in August reportedly started way back in 1946, two years after President Quezon's demise. For about three decades (1950-1980) though, the largest population of Filipinos from the South who spoke Cebuano then did not fully accept that Tagalog should be our national language. My late father, a Zamboangeno, supported the Cebuanos' opposition to this declaration.
I believe that the resistance from the South died down because of several factors. Tagalog was standardized and taught in school, and it was justified as an admixture of many local languages, including Chinese and Spanish. It was also referred to as "Filipino" in the 1987 Constitution. The use of Filipino by the mainstream and social media has facilitated the nationwide recognition and usage of the national language. Furthermore, many of the old, opposing Cebuano leaders have passed on. Today, Filipino is spoken by a large majority (72 percent) of the population. In the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Filipino is the language used by the Moros, especially when they interact with non-Moros or outsiders. This is probably part of their acceptance and assertion of their national identity.
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