Articulate and charming. Those two words alone describe how Ferdinand Alexander ‘Sandro’ Marcos came across to his audience at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines yesterday while delivering a speech on the Bangsamoro Basic Law on behalf of his father Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
Senator Marcos was downed by food poisoning during a Father’s Day dinner the previous night.
The younger Marcos who is currently living and studying in the United Kingdom exhibited a slight struggle with the Tagalog portions of the speech. But people were nonetheless clearly taken by Sandro, who drew swoons from the audience when less than a minute into reading his father’s speech he stumbled into its first Tagalog words. His sheepish smile as he paused to regain his composure following that slight hitch drew even more swoons!
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Caught in an ambush interview afterwards, the younger Marcos held his own clearly communicating his ideas on what it means to be the son of a senator (and one who is the only son of a former president) and to be of an age where the prospect of following his elders’ footsteps into Philippine politics was a possibility he could credibly talk about.
To Sandro, a son of a politician being open to a career in politics is the most natural thing. Call it dynasty politics if you will, but it is as natural as at least one of a lawyer’s kids likely going to law school or a farmer’s son learning his father’s trade. If one is exposed to something growing up, that something will naturally be top of mind when the time comes to choose a university course or career.
One can easily see the difference between bad breeding and good breeding — in the manner with which one respects the intelligence of his or her audience. We can’t help but compare: on one hand, the polished poise and eloquence of a Marcos scion and, on the other, the shrill infantile showbiz-speak of Kris Aquino.
The elephant in the room in this instance is the obvious question: Which of the two was raised well?
More imporantly…
Which of the two families would Filipinos choose to represent the character of their society?
Democracy, after all, is about giving the greater public access to choice. The choices Filipinos make in the coming elections — and, for that matter, the many others that will follow it — will define their character as a people.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Also saw this in my newsfeed. Never thought of BBM’s son up until today. But the news is more about him possibly following his father’s footsteps and nothing about BBM’s speech about BBL. That food poisoning is bad timing. Sandro carrying himself well and taking international politics must have brought up the dynasty issue (and best of all because he is his father’s son). It’s not every day anyway that people get to meet young ones with his charm and character. Besides, it’s the people and media who made a fuss over him. It’s not that that’s what he wanted to happen when he delivered the speech. If people aren’t into personalities more than the issue, he entering politics in the future won’t be a major issue. Wait ‘til he proved himself qualified, girls.
Nah, Josh seems better. Josh is always quiet.
i do hope i’d be still alive to see if there’ll be a sandro vs bimby slug-out in the 2052 elections
Slug-Out of epic proportions dapat!
BIMBY AGAD DI PO BA PWEDENG SANDRO VS JOSH MUNA
Never….please please .. Never to Aquinos.
marcos yan, in no doubt, matalino at makabayan
for the nth fucking time, it’s called FILIPINO, dammit!
mga bobo
Nah. It’s Tagalog.
Furthermore:
See the full article from which the above snippet was taken here!
prove it
@Neil Tristan Yabut
What’s the significance of calling the national language “Filipino” instead of Tagalog anyway?
Please explain.
@Chloe, it’s the same reasoning behind calling you Chloe instead of some other name.
simplest point: ever wonder why one of the required language courses from elementary to high school is called filipino and not tagalog? because the name of the language taught in those courses is in fact filipino.
@Chloe one other thing.
read out current (i.e. 1987) constitution, Article XIV section 6.
case closed.. for you. now back to benign0
@ neil tristan yabut
Seems you can’t explain the significance, which means you don’t really understand what you are talking about. You are just quibbling on details.
maybe that’s the problem with you.
1. you don’t consider the details
2. you don’t follow the rules
3. you don’t appreciate the political (and linguistic) processes that went into creating filipino as a national language
4. you just complain and complain. or are you complaining because you can’t understand?
today, filipino is consistently referred to as such by the department of education and its schools (unfortunately, there are idiots in other government agencies that can’t recognize this). and it is taught throughout the country as a unifying language.
because we deserve to travel anywhere in the country, and be able to converse meaningfully with our countrymen, in a language that is uniquely ours.
if you’re looking for a national language that absolutely equally represents all the native languages of the country, good luck writing a textbook on that within a generation. good luck in even quantifying that ‘equal representation’ part.
if the national language were based on cebuano, why not? but tagalog offered the advantages of wide usage, rich vocabulary, sophisticated structure, and prior reference documentation.
the problem with this continual confusion is largely due to ignorant people (esp. filipinos) like you who continue to use the term ‘tagalog’ when:
1. foreigners, also due to their ignorance, insist on using the term
2. locals interchange the two, as if ‘ahas’ and ‘sawa’ are identical, despite being given access to its education through the school system.
All of what you said above could have been achieved if English had been retained as the “national language”. Go south and you will find lots of people who’d prefer to converse with you in English than in Tagalog.
Prove what exactly?
that it’s tagalog
Since you are too lazy to Google this “proof” I’ll just cite something from your favourite “news” site…
Also, a bit more on just how useless Tagalog is: Check out my other oldie but goodie article here.
It shows statistics that describe how English utterly dwarfs Tagalog in terms of sheer breadth and depth of the knowledge base articulated. Furthermore, puny efforts to translate this vast store of humanity’s knowledge into Tagalog being undertaken by the country’s idiotic “nationalists” is no more than a quaint but pointless exercise, as it only incurs unnecessary overhead.
Furthermore, people who are proficient in English will hands down ALWAYS beat Tagalog speakers when it comes to competing for scarce white collar jobs that pay the decent wages needed to raise a family in the Philippines’ centres of business.
and the smackdown begins.
it’s true, the NLI chose tagalog as the basis for the national language. but keep in mind the phrase ‘x is the basis for y’. meaning that y is created based on x, but y will not be the same as x. this will be reinforced later.
the 1935 constitution even had this phrase (‘Congress shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages. Until otherwise provided by law, English and Spanish shall continue as official languages.’) which left the creation of a national language hanging because of significant opposition from some delegates who thought tagalog was a haphazard choice.
in 1959, tagalog was officially called pilipino, was taught in schools, and became an official language of the republic. but still is simply ‘the basis of the national language’.
by the framing of the 1973 constitution, the national language issue again heated up, leaving us with the following 2 compromise statements:
‘The Batasang Pambansa shall take steps towards the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.’
‘Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages.’
this again makes it clear that filipino and pilipino (the official name of tagalog) will not be the same.
by this time, the agency tasked with developing the national language has morphed from NLI, then changing names to SWP, and a name change again to IPL, before currently being superseded by the KWF.
the identity of our national language was finally settled by the 1987 constitution, which states that ‘The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.’
the use of the letter f in the name of the language is very important, especially in distancing the national language from accusations of tagalog purism. because of that f, the filipino alphabet will be different from the tagalog one. the provision for evolving filipino using multiple bases is also important, because now we can adopt loan words and still say we are speaking in filipino.
i still remember the day in grade school when our teacher suddenly introduced the ‘makabagong alpabetong filipino’, and the name of the subject changed from pilipino to filipino.
references:
1973 constitution
1987 constitution
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?igm=3&i=207
http://kwf.gov.ph/madalas-itanong-hinggil-sa-wikang-pambansa-pdf/
so, who’s lazy in googling proofs now?
p.s. admit that i’m right. you’ve lost this one. although i share many of your sentiments about how fucked up this country is, there are still decent filipinos (although admittedly it’s hard to pinpoint them) who are doing their part in making this country better, and have chosen to stay as part of that objective.
Here it is:
“in 1959, tagalog was officially called pilipino”
Therefore Tagalog = “Pilipino” = “Filipino”.
It’s simple, really.
haynaku! “Pilipino” = “Filipino”?
like p = f? are you really that stupid?
and why the quotation marks? you afraid to name them directly?
Quibbling on spelling rather than on meaning? Tsk tsk. Hallmark of a small mind.
And, yeah, I put them in quotes because that’s all they are — words given to a notion best described as, what else, Tagalog.
that’s why:
1. the filipino alphabet was expanded to include the entire english alphabet + 2 letters
2. using loan words in english, in their original spelling, is entirely acceptable within the structure of filipino
speaking of irrelevant details, why the alias? why marley?
at least my name is crystal-clear here, because i fully stand with my convictions.
So why then go through all that trouble to beef up Tagalog with new words when English could’ve simply been used straight out of the box?
As I said in my previous piece, there’s a whole layer of useless overhead in our society dedicated to the effort of turning Tagalog from a piece of turd into a nugget of gold. What a waste.
eh kasi nga for the sake of having a national (and unifying) language that is philippine in origin.
and the drafters of the 1987 constitution were wise enough to acknowledge the limits of such a local language, even if it were a national language. that’s why english is still an official language of the republic.
anyone in their right mind, then or now, would be foolish to dream of having filipino function on the world stage in the way english or french does, because of historical circumstances and because of limited native speakers.
Ayun lumabas din. “For the sake of having a national (and unifying) language that is philippine in origin.”
Ok I concede. Talo ako sa yo sa logic.
Filipino, nothing more than a cover term attached to Tagalog. But it’s Tagalog through and through.
Try to speak Filipino, what comes out is Tagalog. When you speak Bisaya, it’s not Filipino, it’s called Bisaya.
but how about when they are written? does writing a filipino sentence still come out as tagalog?
There’s a term “Filipinos” often use when they get nosebleed from being spoken to in English:
Tagalugin mo na lang.
i already explained the meaning to Chloe:
1. you don’t consider the details
2. you don’t follow the rules
3. you don’t appreciate the political (and linguistic) processes that went into creating filipino as a national language
4. you just complain and complain. or are you complaining because you can’t understand?
hay bobo. hayy sobrang bobo. puro reklamo. wala namang isinasalang sa solusyon.
even ateneo de manila made a survey on the prevalence of local languages, and named filipino as tagalog (hindi man lang filipino/tagalog), which is ok, because some of their respondents might have finished high school way before 1987. but i have an inkling that this was done because they were expecting that a lot of their respondents were that stupid. in other words, binabaan nila ang antas nila.
i can’t do the same with you.
‘Tagalugin mo na lang.’?
well that’s wrong.
you’re gonna use this as a reference, an oft-used expression?
raise your game, man!
Nah. As I said, it’s all very simple when you step back from the irrelevant details and focus on the real point — which is to provide a practical communication medium to all Filipinos that delivers much-needed access to as wide and as deep a body of knowledge as possible.
English achieves that goal hands down. Tagalog, quite simply, fails.
even tagalog has a lot of loan words, both from both local and foreign languages. how do you explain that?
i’ll explain, because of Spain control for 300 years.
go down south sa batangas para makarining ka ng pure tagalog ang gamit.
example:
straw = patulayan (ung ginagamit sa pang sipsip sa chuckie/moo)
“aba’y mayroon ka bang patulayan?”
“wag kang sumabat hindi ka naman kapulong.”:D
“naalala ko pa noong mga panahon na iyon.”
may batagueno akong tropa. ganyan magtagalog.
we still have purist baka hindi mo lang na-e-encounter.
Agree. But for me, oficial language should be both Tagalog and English. Pwede naman dalawa e. Siguro dahil universal language na ang English (and all countries study English) and majority of Filipinos are more fluent in Tagalog than in English dahil exclusive iyon sa bansa natin (used in pre and post-colonial times), they choose Tagalog which they changed to Filipino. The “mother tongue” (native dialect) is the second language. Filipino is a Tagalog-based language so it doesn’t made sense that they have to change Tagalog to Filipino.
1. no one’s questioning the existence of more than 1 official language. at issue is the difference between filipino and tagalog
2. no one changed tagalog to filipino. tagalog is still tagalog, albeit in several dialects. the government created filipino based on tagalog. and filipino has no dialects.
Sana ibalik din ang Spanish.
Filipino is used internationally so that our foreign friends won’t get confused.
if germans speak german, French speak French, then Filipino speaks Filipino. it doesn’t mean na tagalog ung language. it only means you speak a Filipino dialect. it may be ilocano, bicolano, ilonggo, etc.
yan ang understanding ko.
eto ung link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKxwFhhmH2A
mas ok ung ginawa ni lee kuan yew sa singapore. english ung medium of instruction sa schools. ung sa constitution natin ganito: (mga natandaan ko lang nabasa ko na un eh)
1. Tagalog is the official dialect
2. it should be the “secondary” dialect for non-tagalog people
So, kung bisaya ako, kelangan ko pang matuto mag tagalog then english. so, lumalabas 3 dialects ang alam ko.
So, kung tagalog ako, then english kaagad secondary ko.
may problema kasi yan adre, dahil sa law na ito, it always favors the tagalog people. ang kultura na pag-gamit ng PO at OPO ay galing sa tagalog people. iba ang kultura ng bisaya dahil wala silang PO at OPO sa kultura nila. diretso ka magsalita kahit matanda kausap mo. so, pag nandito sila sa bayan ng katagulan, at hindi nag po at opo, parang iisipin natin walang galang. so cultural / ethnic issue yan. may mga bisaya or from cebu na they find a hard time speaking tagalog so dropp kaagad yan, english kaagad and secondary. putangina kung ako ang presidente iibahin ko yan sa constitution eh.
andrew’s constitution on Language and Culture:
each region will keep their language and heritage. this will be integrated in the academics per region.
english will be secondary language in each region.
each universities will require that each student learn a 3rd dialect and it should be a local dialect: ilocano, bisaya, ilonggo, etc.
Federalism talaga ito putangina. LOL.
tayong mga tagalog would focus on our Bayan ng Katagalugan. from central luzon down to southern tagalog region. ganun yan.
ung mga bisaya naman will have their own sa Central Visayas magaganda mga babae dun. sarap. lol! so kung mag tour ako sa visayas, mag-english ako kasi hindi sila nag-tatagalog. ganun yan.
1. Tagalog is the official dialect
2. it should be the “secondary” dialect for non-tagalog people
seriously? wrong! read again
ayaw nag saba2 diha tristan, alingog-ngog kay ka da
I’ll have what he’s having.
eto ung link sa youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKxwFhhmH2A
the difference between Filipino and Pilipino
fyi, english was never a national language of the philippines. in fact, the americans during the commonwealth opposed it because it’ll be expensive for them.
english, however, is still maintained as an official language of the republic, and as a medium of instruction in schools.
get your terminologies right. or do i have to teach you the basics?
of course no one is asking mr. youngblood the hard questions, such as: ‘why are you not helping in returning the money stolen by your grandfather?’
Nobody is asking BS Aquino either why he has not done a single thing over the entire length of his term as president towards helping solve the mystery of who really murdered his own father.
Tagalogin ko lang po ha: YUN! Tumpak! next?
Aaaaaw, shut up already about this constant stolen money crap. I can’t fucking hear it anymore. And yes, so there was no money ever stolen since. Holy shit!
One family raises someone with better bearing, decorum and breeding than others. And that becomes a media darling. Is that how rare bearing, decorum and breeding in the Philippines have become?
Exactly ChinoF. What a depressing indictment of the entire society. I’ve watched Jerry Springer shows featuring trailer trash who were, nevertheless, quite eloquent. Doesn’t mean I’d want to vote them into the White House.
This kid is far-fetched more better, in terms of breeding and confidence, with the ability to think independently and creatively, than Kristina Bernadette Aquino y Cojuangco (The Bitch-Whore) and James Carlos A. Yap Jr. (Bimby the Spoiled Kid) combined.
lol. ok naman ito si kid marcos. araw-araw ba naman mag-english eh. talagang hasa yan.
about breeding, cultured kasi sa UK nag-aaral eh.
as long as our culture is dysfunctional (feudal minds), hindi tayo mag progress like other 1st world. malamang our present state is like the middle-ages of UK mixed with progessive ones.
Magkano tong article na ‘to? My God.
One million dollars in gold bullion delivered to a vault I lease in the Cayman Islands. Inggit ka no?
I didn’t know you had property on the Cayman Islands…
Saan kayo doon? Dalaw ako.
☺???????? i ‘m enjoying this debate about Tagalog and Filipino…
Ooooh.. cayman islands.. may i visit you there? ????
Guys wait. I just want to go back to the question
“Which of the two families would Filipinos choose to represent the character of their society?”
Both families have their own black sheeps like any other family. How black the black sheeps are also varies. Because if I will answer the question I’d say neither. I’d rather trim the question to: Which among the patriarch of the two families should represent the society?
I’d answer this with it depends. If you admire being brilliant or a visionary, pick FM. If you want a fast-to-the-death guy who is also articulate, pick BSA, Jr. Of course the two also have their share of flaws and shortcomings. Nobody is perfect. Both are charming, disarming and ruthless (BSA, Jr theorized by some) at the same time. Also it was never tested what if the Marcos-Ninoy rift was played the other way – Ninoy is the president and Marcos was jailed. Would Ninoy declare martial law too? (probably. I heard a report that Ninoy himself said that he would). Would Marcos choose to be imprisoned too rather than join a corrupt government and be willing to come home to unite the opposition despite threats of assassination?
I also don’t think it is fair to compare Kris to Alexander. Rather, let’s compare Kris to Imee. Or Alexander to one of Balsy’s children? (sorry I dont know any of them). And the best comparison is between Bong Bong and Noynoy (which is what I am going to do now).
After all the so-called analysis of the complex and seemingly intractable problem called “The Philippines”, with those cute arrows going this way and that and all the points and counter-points, it all boils down to one solution: BRING MARCOS BACK. Great!
benign0 revealed as trash); fan of personalities, of the marcoses
ambot ninyo! This thread of argument doesn’t help for our country’s progress! Comparing one from another? Very Filipino attitude that doesn’t make us rich nor improve! Y’all Mr and Ms know it all, shut the fuck up!
Lesbian siya? PWede siyang double ni Charice
Filipino is the ethnic or race group and Tagalog is the language. When someone ask, “What’s your nationality, race, or ethnicity?” I always answer, “Filipino.”
The rich are good communicators and always has high confidence. Perks of being rich.
A star? Poor shallow assessment. Ano to, showbiz?
The future young President of the Philippines…Matalino at Gwapo….total package saan ka pa….. 🙂
Does anyone really give a shit?
Good role model dapat ito ang tularan at kainggitan ng mga kabataan…..Mag aral mabuti para makatulong balang araw sa bansa…..
Whichever one is most adept at bullshit and theft, if history is anything to go by. Being shafted by someone who can lie fluently makes the Filipino feel that all is right with the world.
Speaking english is not bad if you are a filipino. My young son speaks and communicate well in english, he goes to a grade school, not an international school but a good one. I trained him. He needs to communicate well while he is young, he is in grade 4 and could talk to whoever in english and talk on topics like marine life of mamals. It’s not being rich for one to speak english, it’s how you want yourself to be educated and being smart. Now, he is learning to speak tagalog. Whenever he talks english people who hears him ask me if he is a balikbayan i said he is not. So there is no problem speaking english being a filipino, matutunan din nila ang pagtatagalog. Kahit mga philam madali sila makaadopt ng tagalog speaking.
I appreciate the Marcos kids and grandchilden, they are educated and smart. Its not the issue if Marcos ako o hindi. Its how they raise up thier children.
Marcos parin. tatlong dashing, well-breed male Marcoses pa yan….in the future…..
Says the Scandal Lord who had sex with many men and had sex with many dolphins in the sea.
Now you shut up, Yellow Faggot. :))
Wow, I’m so shock how Filipino now can’t distinguish what is a dialect and what is a language. Filipino is a language. Bisaya, Tagalog, Ilocano and etc. are called dialect. Filipino language is base on Tagalog dialect because it is much often and widely used than other dialects.
Google it if you don’t believe. But don’t forget, Philippines have a lot of dialects though we have one language.
About the article, seems Sandro Marcos become so popular this day together with other politician kids…
I really enjoyed the debate about Filipino and Tagalog. I won’t add up, but I must say I was surprised that a lot of Filipinos couldn’t differentiate the two. Quite a laugh. Well, I came up reading this article because of curiousity to Ferdinand Alexander III. He is smart and well mannered, I admired him more when he apologized to Dee who has been called gay by a fake Sandro twitter acct. but actually Dee tweeted something against his family yet the young Marcos said it was understandable. I mean, sad truth is it’s rare to see such manner in our country that might be the reason why a lot admires Sandro. However, I don’t think it’s right to compare Josh to Sandro be human enough to comprehend the situation. Nevertheless, this guy got my admiration more than the charm there’s a lot that this third can give.
More than two decades ago, the first time I got a remark “Oh, you’re from the Philippines!, so you speak the Tagalog LANGUAGE.” I replied “yes” and explained that I am “tagalog” because I was born and grew up in Manila,but my language is called Filipino.
Then came the third, the fourth and till the present for the nth time, I had mastered I guess explaining, in forms to fill up, adding it if needed. I even made apologies that “Oh because the earlier immigrants here in North America came before the adoption of the national language based on the tagalog dialect.
Anyway, the bottomline I would say that I could detect when a kababayan is talking to me in Filipino if he/she is bulakenyo, batangueno, ilokano or bisaya. Also, in many regions that speak tagalog some words may not have the same meaning. For ex. “Yayao” in Bulacan is “to leave/leaving”…but may sound similar to “dying” in Manila.”Liliban”in laguna is somewhat similar but in Manila may sound to “be /will absent.
Therefore, I believe that the Filipino language is based on the many tagalog dialects that we have in the Philippines.
I write a third language which is French (International French) but I speak the canadian french.It seems the same but not.
I hope I arrived at the same analogy.
Thanks.First time here!
By the way, I’ve been browsing here for quite awhile now and I enjoyed reading blogger’s thoughts esp. Ilda and BenignO.