Tagalog / Pilipino / Filipino: Do they differ?

———————————— Ed’s Notes: The following article was first published on 29 August 2000 at emanila*pilipino, then re-published on 28 November 2004 at emanila’s My Filipiniana section. ————————————

What would you call the language that you use, Tagalog? Pilipino? Filipino? Why do foreigners and Pilipinos in other countries call the Philippines national language Tagalog? Here at home, why is the national language still gets called Tagalog after the change in name 17 25 years ago? Is Tagalog different from Pilipino? From Filipino? Let’s look at these differences based on concept and appearance.

Tagalog is the language in Bulacan, Batangas, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Cavite, Mindoro, Marinduque, some parts of Nueva Ecija, Puerto Princesa and also Metro Manila. This then is a natural language, with its own native speakers. It is one particular language that is spoken by one of the ethnolinguistic groups in the country, the Tagalogs. Even on the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1565 to Manila, they noticed that many Pilipinos were speaking it (Tagalog).

Tagalog got involved in the national arena when President Manuel Quezon declared a national language based on Tagalog on 30 December 1937 (Executive Order No. 134). Starting in 1940, it (the Tagalog-based national language) was taught in all public and private schools.

Pilipino is based on Tagalog

Meantime, the language Pilipino was the Filipino National Language (in 1943) that was based on Tagalog beginning in 1959, when Department Order No. 7 was passed by then Secretary Jose Romero of the Department of Education. This same name (Pilipino) was also used for the official language, the language for teaching and subject in national language starting 1959. This stopped only when Filipino was approved as the national language. Filipino was (the name) used to call the national language in the 1987 Constitution (1973 although the official language was still Pilipino).

It was apparent that Pilipino was also Tagalog in concept and structure and there was no Pilipino language before 1959. Also, there was no Filipino language before 1973. Pilipino is different from Filipino even though both became national languages because these are different concepts — one was based on only one language and the other on many languages in the Philippines, including English and Spanish.

Because it was based on Tagalog and usage by the Tagalogs, the non-Tagalogs were not given the opportunity to become part of the enrichment and development of Pilipino. And in the schools, (the word) aklat is more correct (to use) than libro; takdang-aralin than asaynment; pamantasan than kolehiyo/unibersidad; mag-aaral than estudyante. It was quite a long period that Tagalog prevailed and “swayed”. In applying for a job, for example, teacher and translator in Pilipino, the Tagalog (native speaker) would get hired before the non-Tagalog. What only turned out to be the problem then was which (variety of) Tagalog is “more beautiful, better, appropriate” that was disputed among the Tagalogs from Bulacan, Laguna and Batangas. Occurrences such as these were labelled by Professor Leopoldo Yabes then as “Tagalog Imperialism”. People were so conditioned to Tagalog that inspite of the change on how to call the national language (Pilipino, Filipino), Tagalog was still used by Pilipinos and foreigners when referring to it.

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