in undergrad in 1990’s University of the Philippines, i was taking a required Filipino 50 class that was teaching us all to spell in the prescribed Filipino. prescribed, which means that it was up to a Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, to tell me how to spell my English. that is how to spell English words like engineer into injinir. i asked then why could we not leave English words alone, if only because the need to spell all these English words our way, just really fucks with our sense of those English words.

you do not only spell it in a new and unfamiliar Filipino way, you also end up teaching  students how to wrongly spell the word “engineer.”

in 2013, we are being told by the same Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) that we must now call nation Filipinas. not Pilipinas. not Philippines. but FILIPINAS. 

this 1992 essay that was written by KWF President Virgilio Almario, gives us the rationale for this 2013 circular

Modernisado na ang ating alpabeto at kasama sa mga dagdag na titik ang “F.” Kaya hindi na “Pilipino” kundi “Filipino” ang ating wikang pambansa. Sagisag ng diwa ng modernisasyon at pagiging pambansa ng wika ang pagbabago ng unang titik mula sa “P” tungo sa “F.” Kaya’t sagisag din ng patuloy nating pagdadalawang-isip at  pagbabantulot palaganapin nang puspusan ang “Filipino” ang patuloy pa nating paggamit sa “Pilipinas.”

<…> sapagkat ang pagkakaisa na “Filipinas” ang itawag sa ating bansa ay makapagpapagaan din sa pagtuturo  ng wastong ispeling sa mga bagay na kaugnay ng ating katangiang pambansa.

Halimbawa, sa ngayon ay dalawa ang paraan ng pagsulat sa ngalan ng mamamayan sa ating bansa. “Filipino” sa Ingles at “Pilipino” sa ating wika. Tinatawag nating “Filipino” ang ating wika pero “Pilipino” ang pambansang bandila. Maiiwasan natin ang problemang ito kung”Filipinas” ang magiging opisyal na pangalan ng ating bansa. Lahat ng ating katangiang pambansa-mamamayan, halagahan, (values), kultura, pilosopiya, atbp­ ay isusulat sa iisang pangalan (“Filipino”) sa Ingles man o katutubong wika.

ano raw? isa raw “pagdadalawang-isip” ang paggamit ng Pilipinas at Filipino? isa raw “problema” na ang mamamayan ng Pilipinas ay tinatawag na Pilipino sa Tagalog, at Filipino sa Ingles?

ano raw?

what is the problem here exactly? there is Filipino and Pilipino because there is English and Tagalog. there is no hesitation about using F for one sentence, and a P in another. ah, but that is not really the point here. the point is in this statement that the use of both Filipino and Pilipino and Pilipinas, “keeps from the quick spread of Filipino.” the latter by the way is what they’ve started to use to call Tagalog, by saying that it includes adopted words.

so this is still a KWF, a KWF by the way that has existed since 1991, insisting that its brand of Filipino, the one that is Tagalog-based but has many other adopted words from various languages, is the correct one. this is KWF messing with our rhythm, our sense of self, borne of the way in which we use language, and how we name nation. this is KWF that has had no control really, over what we think and how we use language. because see, that alphabet with an “F” has been around since 1987, and KWF has always insisted that we use the F in our alphabet. but do we use it?

not at all. that must piss KWF off big time. we’re quite pissed too, at the lack of reason for, and the total and utter disregard for the repercussions of, this change. this is not just about the expense, as it is also about messing with our psyches, our articulations.

puck talaga fare. or you know, what da puck KWF.