A summit to preserve the Cebuano language

Tomorrow, the entire nation celebrates All Saints’ Day (our equivalent of the USA’s Memorial Day weekend) and All Souls’ Day on Sunday. It’s one of those weekends that fit exactly the days we’re supposed to have a “holiday,” therefore we only have exactly two days or the weekend for us to visit our dearly departed loved ones. If there’s anything I dislike about our All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day celebration, it is that the living turns a sacred place like a cemetery into some sort of circus grounds where what we expect to be a solemn occasion becomes a boisterous place for family reunions.

But then, what can we expect from Filipino culture, a culture that seems to have changed from bad to worse? In the past 15 years, our cemeteries have been turned into a huge food court of sorts and yes, a huge gambling den. Some may say it’s lack of respect for the dead, but I’d say, it’s lack of respect for the living, especially those who are in our cemeteries to pray and remember their dead relatives. So to our faithful readers, have a great All Saints’ and All Souls’ family reunion weekend!

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A week ago, I attended the first Summit of Cebuano-Visayan Language (in Cebuano it is Unang Kintaumyang Panagtagbo sa Sinuboanong Binisaya) at the residence of Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, president of LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya). This event comes right after the LUDABI’s National Convention held at the Casino Español last Jan. 19. The noble goal of that summit was to preserve our Cebuano language because it also means preserving Cebuano culture… a culture that could vanish if we do not stop those promoting only Tagalog nationalism to turn the entire Philippine archipelago into a Tagalog-speaking nation. 

As we have written time and time again, the Filipino language that many so-called nationalists insist on speaking is for all intents and purposes the Tagalog language, which is taught in all our schools to the detriment of all spoken languages in this country. This situation is disturbing to language advocates like me because it denies all Filipinos their basic human right to speak and learn their own native languages or dialects.

If you didn’t know, the Philippines is one of the founding fathers of the United Nations and a signatory to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its preamble expresses “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.” In the second article it states, “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Then on Dec. 18,1992 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Again we ask, is the Philippines following to the letter what it signed in the UN to protect the linguistic rights of all ethnic Filipinos other than Tagalogs?

I have always maintained that for as long as our language policies are dictated by Imperial Manila, which is run mostly by Tagalog nationalists, this country will never prosper. A case in point are the members of the board of the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCAA), which is tasked to preserve Filipino culture, only has one ethnic group as its member, hence there is undoubtedly a strong bias toward promoting only Tagalog nationalism. These are the nationalists who insist that having a national language promotes Filipino unity. The United States went into a bloody civil war in 1840 and they speak only English, so where was unity in language there?

I salute Cordova Town Mayor Adelino Sitoy for his advocacy in keeping the Cebuano language alive in Cebu province. During the summit he presented the Grade 2 pupils of the Bo. Day-as Elementary School where their teacher, Nena Lipangon, showed what her pupils can do when they are taught Cebuano in school. They did their math that would shame older guys like us! Best of all, they could express themselves better in reading and writing and in singing. This proves that teaching Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo, Waray, and Bicolano early in school makes for better students.

You may ask, why should we preserve Cebuano when it is not under any threat? This is exactly what most Cebuanos think because it is not illegal to speak Cebuano, Ilonggo or Waray in this country. But the fact remains that the educational policies of this nation only “force” our students to learn “Filipino” in school to the detriment of all spoken languages in this country. I say it here again: the best way to preserve our languages is through federalism!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.