August 19, 2006 – (Manila) – Today marks the 128th birth anniversary of Manuel Luis Quezon, the Philippines’ 2nd President, also the President of the Philippine Commonwealth and the President who died in office while in exile in the United States as a result of the need to evacuate him and his government during the Japanese occupation of this country during the Second World War.
This date also marks the beginning of the yearly week long celebration and commemoration of the Philippine Language Week (Linggo ng Wika).
Based on history and how historians of that time wanted to portray Manuel L. Quezon, the man was a champion of Filipino independence and of nationalism, an ardent promoter of the Filipino identity despite the fact that he was partly Spanish.
Quezon exemplified that one need not to be brown to be Filipino and he is an example of someone who loves his country so much that he is willing to die fighting for it till the very end … before one self, the nation and its people first.
Quezon was an example of a true Filipino Nationalist, a breed that is now missing in the halls of government of this time.
Through the inspiration of Quezon, the country also honors him as the proponent of the Filipino language, which is dominated by the Tagalog dialect, the dialect spoken by 15 million people around the nation’s capital and nearby provinces.
The issue of what is the Filipino language has been debated many times over and some people who have their own regional dialects refuses to recognize the Filipino language per se for it minimizes the significance of the other 100 or so dialects & sub-dialects in this country that is not really rooted in Tagalog.
In the last twenty years, Quezon might get amused as to how minimalist, conformist, and arrogant some intellects have been to re-defined the Filipino language by adding alphabets borrowed from the English language, creating new words that are “Tagalized” English words and adding them into the Tagalog-Filipino vocabulary, and establishing an arrogant sense of Filipino nationalism by demanding the rest of the non-Tagalog speaking regions become subservient to speak only Tagalog which is for an arrogant intellectual few, the Filipino language.
This week as we celebrate the Filipino language and put emphasis on enriching our own knowledge and appreciation of the language(s) that makes us Filipinos, we give thanks to Quezon for his untiring effort to make this country free from its colonial masters and defined what is now the Republic of The Philippines.
For a nationalist and a defender of Filipino independence, Quezon ironically died in exile on August 1, 1944 in the United States, of tuberculosis, in the same country whom he fought bitterly to gain freedom for this nation.
The likes of Quezon is what we needed in this time of difficulties and political bickering, in order to put proper directions to our country.
Despite gaining freedom and practicing the virtues of democracy, the Filipino is actually not completely free from its own misplaced sense of direction.
Quezon’s zeal can be likened to one goal and one direction and though it was not easy to achieve the feat of gaining a fast-tracked date on Philippine independence, Quezon may have skewed a bit, perhaps even cajoled with the Americans but the goal he originally pursued never changed.
Today, this country must set its own goal and what we view as our main goal is to achieve freedom from poverty and if we emulate Quezon’s unswerving dedication to reach his goal, then maybe we as a nation and as a people could break from poverty once and for all and we can truly call ourselves independent and free.
This date also marks the beginning of the yearly week long celebration and commemoration of the Philippine Language Week (Linggo ng Wika).
Based on history and how historians of that time wanted to portray Manuel L. Quezon, the man was a champion of Filipino independence and of nationalism, an ardent promoter of the Filipino identity despite the fact that he was partly Spanish.
Quezon exemplified that one need not to be brown to be Filipino and he is an example of someone who loves his country so much that he is willing to die fighting for it till the very end … before one self, the nation and its people first.
Quezon was an example of a true Filipino Nationalist, a breed that is now missing in the halls of government of this time.
Through the inspiration of Quezon, the country also honors him as the proponent of the Filipino language, which is dominated by the Tagalog dialect, the dialect spoken by 15 million people around the nation’s capital and nearby provinces.
The issue of what is the Filipino language has been debated many times over and some people who have their own regional dialects refuses to recognize the Filipino language per se for it minimizes the significance of the other 100 or so dialects & sub-dialects in this country that is not really rooted in Tagalog.
In the last twenty years, Quezon might get amused as to how minimalist, conformist, and arrogant some intellects have been to re-defined the Filipino language by adding alphabets borrowed from the English language, creating new words that are “Tagalized” English words and adding them into the Tagalog-Filipino vocabulary, and establishing an arrogant sense of Filipino nationalism by demanding the rest of the non-Tagalog speaking regions become subservient to speak only Tagalog which is for an arrogant intellectual few, the Filipino language.
This week as we celebrate the Filipino language and put emphasis on enriching our own knowledge and appreciation of the language(s) that makes us Filipinos, we give thanks to Quezon for his untiring effort to make this country free from its colonial masters and defined what is now the Republic of The Philippines.
For a nationalist and a defender of Filipino independence, Quezon ironically died in exile on August 1, 1944 in the United States, of tuberculosis, in the same country whom he fought bitterly to gain freedom for this nation.
The likes of Quezon is what we needed in this time of difficulties and political bickering, in order to put proper directions to our country.
Despite gaining freedom and practicing the virtues of democracy, the Filipino is actually not completely free from its own misplaced sense of direction.
Quezon’s zeal can be likened to one goal and one direction and though it was not easy to achieve the feat of gaining a fast-tracked date on Philippine independence, Quezon may have skewed a bit, perhaps even cajoled with the Americans but the goal he originally pursued never changed.
Today, this country must set its own goal and what we view as our main goal is to achieve freedom from poverty and if we emulate Quezon’s unswerving dedication to reach his goal, then maybe we as a nation and as a people could break from poverty once and for all and we can truly call ourselves independent and free.
* * *
In His Own Words:
"I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans. Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it." - Manuel L. Quezon
In His Own Words:
"I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans. Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it." - Manuel L. Quezon
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