"Wikang Pambansa mula Baler Hanggang Buong Bamsa"

During the month of August, we, Filipinos are celebrating the Month of our Language or in Filipino "Buwan ng Wika." And the theme for this month is "Wikang Pambansa mula Baler Hanggang Buong Bansa."

Language is how people communicate with one another. It's a terrific tool. Language is spoken.It is also written down. Different countries have their own languages as their own identities. And here in the Philippines we have more than 80 indigenous languagesand dialects. These languages and dialects belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of the Austronesian language family. Themost widely spoken are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray-Waray, Pangasinan, Pampangan and Maranao. English and Filipino (formely spelled Pilipino) are the official languages. Filipino is largely based on Tagalog with many words adoptedfromother languages including English and Spanish. It was made a national language in 1987in an attempt to address the fact that no two of the indigenous languages are mutually comprehensible.

Who is Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina?

Manuel Luis Quezon was born in Baler, Tayabas (now Aurora).His Spanish Mestizo parents were Lucio Quezon and Maria Dolores Molina. He was the first Filipino president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under U.S. colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century. He is considered by most Filipinos to have been the second President of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo. He has the distinction of being the first Senate President elected to the presidency, the first president elected through a national election, and the first incumbent to secure re-election (for a partial second term, later extended, due to amendments to the 1935 Constitution).

Manuel Luis Quezon is also the one who mandated the Tagalog language as "Wikang Pambansa" or national language in English-translation. Because of that, he is known as the "Father of National Language."

But nowadays, many Filipinos continue to primarily speak other language rather than Filipino. One of the sayings of Dr. Jose P. Rizal is that "ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa sa malansang isda," so we should love our own language and be proud of it.