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| THE BIRTH OF DILA AS AN INTERNATIONAL GROUP |
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| BY ERNIE C. TURLA |
Note: This is in reply to Maripal, one of our members who is doing a research on
languages.
Write the history of the beginnings of DILA?
Oh boy, where would I begin? Maybe I have to begin with myself. :)
Well, then let me take you all the way back to about three years ago.
Or maybe give you first a background about myself, particularly the recent
past, meaning just before I retired from the civil service three years ago.
I was then (as I am still so) the president of the Akademyang Kapampangan, USA
(http://maxpages.com/akademya), of the Kapampangan Cultural Heritage Society
(http://maxpages.com/kchs) and the Aguman Capampangan Northwest U.S.A.
(http://maxpages.com/aguman) which has become well-known for its annual Santa
Cruzan pageants (http://maxpages.com/santacruzan) and annual medical missions to the Philippines (http:maxpages.com/mission2). The book, Classic Kapampangan Dictionary, (http://maxpages.com/turla/classic) that I had written just came out through self-publication, copyrighted and promptly distributed to all town libraries and leading colleges in my province. I had just learned from my youngest daughter how to operate her computer (the basics at least) and how to surf the internet which
somewhat became my favorite hobby (http://maxpages.com/anniversary). This
newly-acquired skill which I did not get to learn in school enabled me to make
webpages for my written work in English which I majored in (http://maxpages.com/grammar), as well as the Kapampangan poetry and songs I had written from time to time which were showcased in the websites, Library of Kapampangan Poetry (http://maxpages.com/poecia4) and Kapampangan Folksongs Album (http://maxpages.com/kapampangan) respectively. These were later combined and anthologized with those of other Kapampangan writers and published
in book form. I also wrote a simple online course of study in Kapampangan, entitled
Kapampangan in Twelve Easy Lessons (http://maxpages.com/lesson), as well as
well as several other writings related to either my language or my province.
So, as one would see, I had been very busy doing something for the enhancement
of my language.
Like most writers in the vernacular, I did not develop any skill in writing in Kapampangan till late in life. All along, the only language I was interested in had been English - something that redounded to my writing short "potboilers" that got published in the old Philippines Free Press. In fact, I was just influenced by an uncle of mine whom I constantly exchanged letters with and who encouraged me to write in it. That was the start of my ardent interest in my language and I became almost
what one would call a prolific writer in it.
Then something made me realize that I was just wasting my time in such an endeavour. With Tagalog lording it over in all media of communication (TV, radio, movies) and with it as the medium of instruction in our schools, I started to have
the feeling that someday soon, my province would (heaven, forbid) eventually become Tagalog-speaking. All my works as well as the literature of both my contemporaries and those before me would just go down the drain then, I thought. The language policy in the Philippines, I thought, favored only the national language and neglected all the others even in the regions they are indigenous to. So, I became uneasy and worried about the future of my language. So much so that I eventually stopped writing in the vernacular and just resorted to doing research in the internet to while the time away.
Then sometime during the fall season of 2001, while leisurely surfing the internet,
I came across an article entitled, Ethnic Cleansing. It was written by Herb Mantawe (a Cebuano) and Jed Pensar (a Kara-ya). I readily agreed with their projection of a country trying to annihilate all the languages except for one in its effort to just have one language, and hence some sort of unity. So, I lost no time in getting in touch with Herb (he is also known as Benjie) and shortly thereafter, with Jed (a.k.a. Dr. Dacudao) too. We found in ourselves a mutual desire and a common goal which was
the preservation and promotion of our languages. We exchanged letters almost everyday, and before long, I also got to meet in cyberspace other Visayans who were members of their ethnic loop. One look at the bulk of e-mail recipients on the headings of every message we sent using the "reply to all" button was a tell tale sign that our list was growing. And there was diversity too. There was me, Dag Bonifacio and Gus Balatbat who were Pampanguenos, and there was Benjie, Jed, Lino Faelnar, Dindo Generoso, Nilo Sarmiento, Carmen Miraflor, Ava Vios and Danny Gil who were Bisaya. There was Tim Harvey whom I had already met in Filipino events in the Portland metro area where we both lived and who was (and is) married to a Cebuana. Earlier, I also had got in touch with Carl Rubino, Ph.D, after coming across his website and whom I later exchanged dictionaries with.
Then, without even asking permission from everybody, I formed a yahoo group ((http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UNT) and enlisted all the people I regularly exhanged mail with. I temporarily named it united non-tagalogs or UNT and I appointed Dag (a neighbor of the Hatfields of WV) as moderator. The first thing he did was to consolidate and enter all the previous messages from September though October. That was on November 1, 2001 - the day the group was organized. Yes, just one and a half years ago although it seems that it has been around for a much longer time than that on account of the numerous messages over the passing months.
The group's enthusiasm during the very first month was awe-inspiring. There were four hundred seventeen (417) recorded messages just for that month alone. And the
messages were not just "chats" or short one-liners as in the case of some groups.
The messages were lengthy and informative. Compared with other groups that usually just had 10 or 20 messages in their first month, UNT was a blockbuster.
Then while everybody was busy exchanging opinions on matters related to our
cause, I searched the internet for more members. I discovered Chris Sundita and
then just a few days later, Jason Lobel, a linguist with two books to his credit, and included them in the group. At about the same time, Danny Gil recommended his friends David "Danny" Martinez, the Palanca award-winning author and John Reyes. I found Ronald and Elmer in the web and enlisted them for membership in the group. The total number of messages posted during that month rose to a whopping 612!
During that month, December, some were concerned about the name, United Non-
Tagalogs, saying that it was like being a group against the Tagalogs as a people,
and they suggested that the name be changed and to which I gave approval. A poll was taken and there were several suggestions made. Chris suggested SALITA which stood for Saving All Languages In The Archipelago. But, although "salita" is a word "language" in most of the native languages including Tagalog, it was not so in Cebuano, and so the Cebuanos did not see any essence in the accronym. Then David (Danny) came up
with DILA which would stand for Defenders of Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago, and it won the approval of the majority. However, I had to add -philippines after it, on account of the fact that the name DILA had already been taken (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DILA-philippines). The transition from UNT to DILA-philippines took place on January 1, 2002. As for the number of messages posted during that month, it was the highest ever in our record: 646. Wow!
For the year 2002, I proclaimed Tim Harvey, being American, to act as chairman
of the international group which included members from the Philippines, U.S., Australia and Britain. I also made him my main moderator for that year, with Dag serving as an assistant. Oh, one more important note here: Just a few weeks after the name-change, the name UNT was revived and became the name of another yahoogroup. Unlike DILA-philippines, UNT which I also moderate, is not open for public viewing, and it serves as the conference room of our directors which include among others, Lino, Benjie, Jed, Ronald, Tim, Edwin, Dag, Carmen and a host of other die-hards who are mostly hardliners.
Among our most important projects in the early stage of our existence was the
drafting of a resolution where we stated our main goals (http://www.webspawner.com/users/DILAresolution), and the building of a 350-word list
(http://www.webspawner.com/users/lexicon) which was a compilation of English words that
were translated into 8 or so languages.
Over the next several months, more members either signed up or were recruited.
A DILA foundation was established for Pampanga/Metro Manila with Josie Henson,
(the president of the Akademyang Kapampangan based in Angeles City) elected as president, Lino Faelnar as vice pres., and Benjie Pepito as secretary. DILA student-chapters were established in the Visayas and credit for these goes to Jed Pensar who is presently assigned as a neuro-surgeon in Butuan City. Cherry Ann Reyes is the president of the Kabangkalan City DILA chapter and Timmy Guerno is president of the Bacolod City DILA chapter. These chapters also endorse the federalization of our country besides working
for the promotion of the indigenous languages, thus their acronym, SOLTFED which stands
for Saving Our Languages Through Federalization.
The last two years have seen the membership grow bigger. Some stalwarts in the group have come and go, such as Irfan and Avelina Gil. Among those currently in the membership roll include Leezel Tanglao, Bobit Avila, R.G. Gabuna, Kalano Mamo, Ava Vios, Josie Henson, Jun Versola, Gerald Santos (Suligui), Bro. Andrew Gonzales, Jessie Rubrico, C. Brainard, Simeon Dacanay Mamaril and Leo Paz. Among the new members that grace this discussion forum are Linda Faigao Hall, Erlinda Alburo, Norman Madrid, Lynn Tolen, Sonny Villafania, Bert Florentino and Linda Nietes.
Biba DILA!
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(from Gus Balatbat)
OUR NATIVE TONGUES SHALL LIVE
(tune: Music Alone Shall Live)
All things shall perish from
Under the sky
Our native tongues shall live
Our native tongues shall live
Our native tongues shall live
Never to die
Note:
"our native tongues" may be substituted with the name of the
language itself.
Ex.: "Kapampangan shall live." or "Hiligaynon shall live.", etc.
(from Dag Bonifacio)
Let's reread Ernie Turla's science-fiction story, The Last
Kapampangans On Earth (http://www.webspawner.com/users/josie172) and
Jed and Herb's Manila Colonialism. And David Martinez's Language
Genocide. They stand as today's counterparts of the Noli and Fili in
relation to the causes we are fighting for.
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