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epistle
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| Pampanga |
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| 14 January 2006 The Honorable Francis L. Nepomuceno House of Representatives, Quezon City Dear Sir: We wish to bring to your attention an extremely grave matter of concern to every Kapampangan. There is no longer any doubt now that the Kapampangan language is dying. If nothing is done, it will soon be dead, and so will the Kapampangans as a people. In his essay "The Vanishing Pampango Nation" published in 1985, Renato Tayag predicted that the language would disappear within a century as Kapampangans become Tagalog. He may have been too generous with his timetable. Kapampangan may be beyond saving within a generation. The census shows how non-Tagalogs have been declining vis-à-vis Tagalogs for decades. Between 1948 and 1995, the proportion of Tagalogs rose from 19% to 29%, while that of Cebuanos dropped from 25% to 21%, and those of Ilocano and Ilonggo from 12% to 9%.1 The decline is especially critical in some areas. For example, the proportion of Kapampangans in Hermosa, Bataan plunged from 55.6% in 1948 to 19.9% in 1995; in the same period, that of Dinalupihan, Bataan fell from 47.8% to 19.35%. In Candaba, it was down to 63.6% by 1995. Census figures do not tell the whole story. The survival of a language depends on its transmission to the next generation. It is ominous that even in Pampanga, for more and more families, the language is simply not being passed on, as the younger generation is brought up speaking only Tagalog. "Tagalogs" born to Kapampangan parents are a rapidly growing sector lost to Kapampangan, and might as well have been born in Bulacan, Batangas or Rizal. Most disturbing of all, children who still speak Kapampangan are being ostracized and forced to switch to Tagalog to conform. Thus, in many families in which the older children still speak Kapampangan, younger ones are brought up Tagalog. The language may not even outlive this generation. So what if Kapampangan dies? It means that an important people, one of the eight major groups, represented by two rays in the flag, which produced many great men and women, including heads of all three branches of government, will disappear from history. It will unravel a main strand of the Philippine tapestry, without which the country's history and identity would be incomplete. The death of our people will tear away pages from the book of humanity. A culture and identity centuries in the making, unique, beautiful, and extraordinarily productive, will cease to exist. In practical terms, it will remove the check-and-balance which has promoted freedom at various times in history. As Nick Joaquin noted in The Aquinos of Tarlac, Tagalogs and Kapampangans, who occupy the Luzon heartland, have, together, kept stability in the islands. The disappearance of Kapampangans will put the most strategic parts of Luzon entirely in the hands of one group, leaving the field more susceptible to dictators. History has shown that Kapampangans have, at key points in history, stood for liberty, from Macabebe king Soliman who fought the Spaniards at Bankusay in 1571, to revolutionaries who secured two rays (for Pampanga and Tarlac) out of eight in the flag. Our people have voted solidly in practically every election, often against the prevailing trend, ensuring check-and-balance. Pampanga and Southern Tarlac went for Macapagal in 1965 and Osmeña in 1969, De Venecia in 1998, and Arroyo in 2004, defying Central Luzon/Tagalog landslides for Marcos, Estrada and Poe. Consider the consequences should Kapampangans turn Tagalog and disappear as a voting bloc, removing an important political counterweight.2 Moreover, the Kapampangan language is a powerful focus for regional solidarity and identity, as well as a criterion for distinguishing natives or long-time residents, and testing the commitment of immigrants. Take it away, and Pampanga/Kapampangan will be just another political unit, instead of an entire people at par with the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Cebuanos, and other larger groups. It is said that the language shift is due to mass media and education. Education may be the more important factor not only because it is compulsory, but also since it ensures a ready market for mass media in Tagalog while discouraging one in the vernaculars. No program to revive Kapampangan will succeed outside the educational system.3 While the use of regional languages is prescribed in the Constitution,4 little is being done to implement those provisions. The effectiveness of using the first language as the medium of early education is affirmed by numerous experiments, from the Iloilo Second Language Experiment in the 1950s to the recent one using the regional lingua franca.5 Its role in building children's self-esteem is undeniable: "The child should learn in the language he thinks in. The child needs approving emphasis on his own culture to feel good about himself."6 This emphasizes the discriminatory nature of the existing policy, which gives Tagalog children an unfair edge over non-Tagalogs, unless the latter commit cultural suicide by abandoning their languages in the home. The shift to Tagalog, with which our descendants will have no ethnic affinity, robs them of their past and identity, without removing discrimination or negative stereotypes of Kapampangans. Note how much prestige is commanded by "pure" or "real" Tagalogs. Our descendants, while exclusively Tagalog-speaking, will be anything but "pure," being of Kapampangan ancestry. Even as they have lost their language and identity, they will merely be second class Tagalogs. Given the gravity and urgency of the situation, we respectfully urge you to take, as soon as possible, emergency measures to save our language: 1. To use the local language as the main medium of instruction at least in the first two grades, and as a subject at higher levels. 2. To encourage the use of the regional languages in government and the mass media. 3. To constitute Kapampangans into their own state, with power over education and language policy, in case of a shift to the federal system. So critical is the situation that our language will reach a point of no return in a few years. When that time comes, no amount of government intervention will make a difference. When our era is judged by history, let it not be said that we did nothing to save our languages when we still could. On the other hand, the gratitude of future generations will be boundless if we succeed. Very truly yours, JOSEFINA D. HENSON EDWIN N. CAMAYA President, Akademyang Kapampangan and Moderator, DILA Philippines Forum DILA Philippines Foundation Also attached in the document sent: From: sale edgardo Date: Wed Dec 7, 2005 8:57 pm Subject: Re: [AkademyangKapampangan] Bakit kaya? edgardo_b_sale Caputol Gus, A pansinan cu pin deng anac ca rin Pampanga, paquisabyan dalang "Tagalug" deng carelang pengari anyang minuli cung talwi. Pagtacan cu pin o bakit macanyan? I Kumander cu manibat quing ibat paquisabyan na lang Capampangan deng anac cu ustung atiu la bale. Caya pin ecu manwala queng sasabyang dang malitu la canu reng anac uling adwa ing "medium of instruction" a pagaralan da. Lawen muna lamu deng Latinu, ustung que bale kastila ing salita ra at queng kilwal English. Atin lang caluguran deng anac cu, dagul ya naman queti America pero byasa yang magsalitang "Ilocanu, Tagalug at English". Caya pin mikyabe cu quing AKKAP bayang mitais ing salita cu queng Amanung Sisuan. LUID YA ING CAPAMPANGAN, ED SALE From: eiturla@... Date: Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:36 am Subject: My Observations While in Pampanga - Andro ernieturla In a message 5/31/2005 1:43:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time from camiling@almaak.usc.edu writes: >I have observed that speaking of Tagalog is widespread in Pampanga now. Even young kids (7 to 12 years old or older) speak Tagalog among themselves at home. This is true of the children of our nieces and nephews in Lubao and in Apalit. I was shocked to hear their conversations and suggested to them and to their parents to speak Kapampangan instead. I explained to them the consequence of speaking Tagalog at home. Let's investigate if this speaking Tagalog among children in Pampanga is prevalent and if it is now a general practice, we have to do something to stop it. - Andro Andro, You must have felt quite uneasy to see your nephews and nieces allowing their children to speak Tagalog even when just among themselves at home. If it had been a foreign language such as English or Spanish, it would have been understandable in that the kids were just practicing what they learned and that the situation had no permanency. But seeing Tagalog in their lips would certainly make you aware of the fact that there is language replacement in progress on among them. If parents themselves let their children get converted into Tagalog speakers at home, then we really have a problem stemming from what could be our diminishing pride for ourselves as a people. I get shocked just to think of this! If children don''t care much about the language they were born with, it's because they are still too young to possess a sense of value, especially on something as intangible as language. That's why they have to be guided by adults such as their parents. However, as we see it, the parents themselves seem to have become accomplices of those bent on trying to wipe away all seven of the eight major languages. You''ve just observed something so lachrimose, Andro. Here is some tissue that we can share together. :( All others, do you want some? E. C. Turla |
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