Ka Pule,
I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt, It was just my impression that it was quite obvious that you harbor misgivings regarding the English language. This has become part of a lifelong mission dating back from your childhood, as you have recounted, going to the extreme of tying up the serendipitous confluence of unrelated events, to the implementation of Filipino as the national language, supplanting the English language. Forgive me if I digress, but what credible reason does the US have and what gain does it accomplish, by involving the CIA to prevent this transformation, going to the extent of a government change? Tagalog, Pilipino, or Filipino has been the National language since 1896, reinforced in 1937, and 1973 and has been evolving to replace English all these years. Involving the US in these linguistic squabbles among the regional Filipinos as a scapegoat to our shortcomings is a cap out. A Straw Man excuse. The plain truth is that English persists because it is the language of commerce and communication both locally and abroad. You can bury your head in the sand and proclaim that it is not and that Filipino, Cebuano or Ilocano is the national language, but the people in the streets, the media, the politicians, the lowly vendor to the rich moguls will use what is practical or advantageous to them, in this case, a bastardized English, Taglish. While it might offend someone's sense of purity, by comparison, the American English have continuously incorporated foreign and coined words to its vocabulary, thousands of them, changing spellings along the way in some.
For clarity sake, not revisionist history, EDSA I was precipitated by the election irregularities in the Feb. 7, 1986 elections, under the eyes of the US observers. Richard Lugar noted that 10-40% of voters were disenfranchised. The subsequent conflicting results precipitated the March to Malacanang protest with the religious backing for Cory Aquino. Paul Laxalt advised Marcos on with Reagan's consent to "cut and cut cleanly", withdrawing American support for Marcos and on Feb. 25th he departed to Hawaii. The Marcos Memorandum, dated Jan. 17, 1986, true or not, since you claimed it was intercepted by the CIA, has no bearing on EDSA I. That was even before the Election of Feb.7, 1986.
Ka Pule, you can go into contortions, summon the occult and the mystic to keep your theory viable, but by using simple logic and common sense you have to ask the question, Why would Marcos who desperately needed US support to prop up his government, (if we are to believe your CIA conspiracy in its effort to keep English as one of the National Languages) "provoke" the anger of the US in the eve of an important election??? Remember that Reagan was still "supportive" of Marcos before the elections. I leave you with that thought to chew on.
..HMC
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Mabunying Manong Honorio:
Ang sumusunod ninyong payo ay hindi na bago.
"But wait Ka Pule2, you have touched on a brilliant idea, why not cull all the languages, pick some common words and make a brand new language, like Esperanto. Oh! what a piece of work invented by that brilliant Doktoro Esperanto in 1887, to devise an easy to learn international auxiliary language, it has succeeded to the wildly accepted speakers from 10,000 to 2 million, against the backdraft of 6.8 billion people, that is amazing!" -- Honorio Cruz
Nung 1960s pa, ay napakaraming mga Letters to the Editor ang naipahatid, at nangalimbag naman sa halos lahat na mga diyario sa bansa; subali't hindi pinansin, o binigyang halaga, ng mga nasa kapangyarihan ng pamahalaan. Suntok sa buwan!
Ang mungkahi: integration, conglomeration and/or amalgamation of the major languages in the country, to build up a very rich, progressive and modern lingua franca for a national language.
Ang isa pang nakakatawa, kung'di nakaka-iyak, sa Inside Malacañang kolums ni Celso Cabrera in The Manila Chronicle -- issues nung June 24 at July1, 1970 -- ay waring kinutya ang ONE MAN RALLY, or demonstration, within the Malacañang Offices -- nino pa? Eh 'di itong Filosopong-Gubat, na inilarawang tila baga nasisiraan ng bait!
Sa daily duties niya -- Press Office Reporter covering the Study Room of the President -- araw-araw na suot niyang barong ay may nakaburdang mga hand-embroidered slogans:
Ex: (1) Sa wikang dayuhan, mga batas at kautusan sa masa ay lingid; nguni't ang mga dayo'y higit na makababatid.
(2) Lahing mauunlad, ayon sa kasaysayan, sariling wika nila ang pinagyayaman.
(3) Banyagang pag-uugali, hiram na wika; pagkawatak-watak ng lahi, kapariwaraan ng bansa.
At may ilang iba pa.
Anong kanyang napala? Then Press Secretary Francisco S. "Kit" Tatad nominated Ka Pule2 to be a participant in the Johnson Foundation Course in Journalism in the United Kingdom. The Jungle Philosopher inwardly relished the idea of that euphemistically contrived exile. But it was aborted upon the declaration of martial law in September 1972.
To wean the Rallyist-Demonstrator from his lunatic inclinations; he was relieved from the Study Room reportorial beat, and detailed as Adm. Officer of two Presidential Committees: Pres'l Coordinating Cmte on the Asian Development Bank; and the Cmte on Transport (Jeepney) Cooperatives.
The London "exile" materialized, when the British Embassy inquired if the former nominee to the Thomson Foundation Course was still available. To which the Office of Executive Secretary Alex Melchor replied that the nomination was being renewed and reiterated. This time (Nov. 1975) however, the "exile" was no longer with the Thomson offer, but a Training Grant in Press and Publications at the Central Office of Infomation in London. During the Colombo Fellowship grant Ka Pule2 was conveniently billeted in Room 410 at London Park Hotel in East London.
On 14 of August 1984 a Memorandum from Mr. Irineo P. Goce, dated August 4, was officially received at the Malacañang Records Office, entitled:
Language -- And Real Independence
Intuitively, the author felt his memo served as a long-delayed fuse which triggered the issuance by President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the following:
MALACAñANG
Manila
January 17, 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR
The Minister of Education and Culture
All other members of the Cabinet
You are directed to create the conditions in your respective ministries and other instrumentalities of the Government for the optimal promotion and development of Filipino as a national language.
Further the Minister of the Budget is directed too cooperate with the University of the Philippines in realizing the endowment of a Translation Center for the translation of major literary works into Filipino and Asian languages as well as translation of classical works into Filipino.
(Signed)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
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The above Memo was transmitted to the Cabinet Ministers under a covering Memorandum by Presidential Executive Assistant Juan C. Tuvera dated January 20, but was possibly intercepted by CIA surrogates in the government bureaucracy. The EDSA One brouhaha erupted as a convenient cover to hide the dismantling of the SEMINAR on Language Translation then in progress at Teachers' Camp in Baguio City and to THWART the implementation of the Language Memo. Ka Pule2 was a devastated participant in that Seminar for around 50 teachers and lovers of Inang Wika, whose labors were unceremoniously dismantled, and the bewildered trainors returned to their respective mother offices in the capital to monitor the CIA ruse to abduct the author of the revolutionary Language Memo; and detain him until death conveniently overtook and aborted his patriotic labors in Hawaii.
Marami pang ibang mga pangyayaring naganap kaugnay sa pagsugpo ng ating pagsisikap na mapaunlad at mapalaganap ang pambansang wika. Subali't kay dami ng mga nagtataksil sa kapakanan ng bansa, at ng ating lahi!
Hanggang dito na lang muna, Ginoong Cruz; at maligayang panahon sa inyo.
Matapat,
Ka Pule2
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