SPEAK AS YOURSELF!

I never knew a person could change your outlook in life after a meeting of just one hour. In my recent travel to Butuan City, Eddie Cuaresma, my supervisor at the National Youth Commission, and I met his cousin-in-law, a young brain surgeon, for dinner. When Eddie introduced us, I greeted him with, “Hello po.” He asked, “Are you Tagalog?” I proudly said, “Hindi po, Maranao po ako!” He retorted, “If you did not say you were a Maranao and if you did not know how to speak Maranao, you are technically a Tagalog!” I swear my face turned beet red.

It was painful hearing that I am a Tagalog and not a Maranao! I have nothing against the Tagalogs at all. In fact, I have many Tagalog friends. My best friend himself is a pure Tagalog. Still, I cannot bear being identified as someone or something that I most definitely am not.

It turns out that the brain surgeon has an organization named SOLFED (Save Our Language through Federalism) of which my supervisor is an active member. Their advocacy is to preserve the culture they were born into by preserving their dialect. If you are a Bisaya, speak Bisaya to a fellow Bisaya and not Tagalog, they said. You only speak Tagalog to a Tagalog. “Speak Maranao to a fellow Maranao, Jennie, so that your identity will never be phased out from this world,” the good doctor said.

The only way to preserve our dying culture is through preserving first the language or dialect. According to the doctor, the Indians or Cherokees are now in the process of preserving their language by recording the voices of their elders while they converse. In class, these are then translated to English so that the Indian students would be able to comprehend what is being said.

One day, the Maranao tribe might become extinct with the way things are going. Some of our young Maranaos today proudly speak Bisaya or Tagalong to one another, thinking speaking in another dialect would be a status symbol. On the contrary, our local counterparts and some foreigners may be scorning and laughing at us for wanting to be like them and disregarding our own unique identity! Many non-Maranaos and foreigners are fascinated with our culture and lifestyle, so why change.

For me it is permissible to speak in English because according to the good doctor, it is a universal language of commerce and science. However, it is more important to preserve our own dialects because it is our moral obligation and duty to preserve and protect the identity God entrusted to us.

Right now, it is my advocacy to speak Maranao to Maranao, Bisaya to a Bisaya and Tagalog to a Tagalog. God help me with this task! Happy Independence Day to everybody!