Imperyalistang Maynila: A Wika 2007 Entry
by Ariel James A. Matela

Official entry to the Wika2007 Blog Writing Contest…

Hehe Andami nang sumali…

But you see, I don’t believe in imperialistic Manila. True, Manila is powerful. What they do in Manila reverberates across the countryside. Parang Los Angeles - what they do there, gaya-gaya ever ang Amerika. Is it imperialism nang mga tiga LA? I don’t think so.

What it is is that - this is the dark results of economic improvement and the sad reality is that, as economic development goes up, so is economic inequality. I can send the latest ADB studies on this one. And yes, there are those who are always left behind.

Now trust me on this, I just don’t blame economic dev in this case because corruption, good governance, crappy politics are as guilty as ever which is why we have inequalities.

So, what’s happening is that - to all of those who were left behind either by choice, of by some corrupt politicians, everyone sets their sights on Manila and blames Manila for being imperialistic. I DISAGREE.

I maybe be in the US now, but I’m still very much a resident of Pasig City, and we in Manila are as much as a victim as those people in Mindanao by the powers that be.

It’s a really nice and excellent essay, in fairness.

Sumasanga-ayon din ako ka Maruja na ang pinaka-mainam na pamamaraan upang mapalawig at mapagyaman ang ating wikang pinoy ay ang paghalaw ng mga nararapat na terminolohiya mula sa samu’t-saring diyalekto’t wika ng ating arkipelagao. Ito rin, sa palagay ng nakararami, ang pinakamahusay na pamamaraan upang mapag-ugnay natin nang husto at mawala ang mga barikadang naghihiwalay sa bawat rehiyon, kultura’t sektor na bumubuo ng ating bayan mula Aparri hanggang Jolo.

Ipagbunyi ka Katoto at ipagpatuloy natin nawa ang malayang pagpapalaganap ng mga kuru-kurong makakapag-unlad ng malayang kaisipan.

I actually had to read the English translation of your post because though I still speak Tagalog, it takes me a while to read Tagalog. I’m Tagalog (dad’s side) and Waray (mom’s side). I can speak Tagalog but can only understand Waray (though I’m doing my best to learn it).

I’ve been so out of touch of the happenings in the Philippines ever since I came to the US, but I do my best to keep up, especially with the current state of the governance.

I really like your last paragraph. No matter how spread out Filipinos are or in which countries Filipinos reside, Filipinos will always find a connection knowing that another person is Filipino.

true true true! good luck din sayo!

Halimbawa, walang salita sa Tagalog para sa “husband”, pero sa Cebuano mayroong “bana”.

Good luck, Mare! ^_^

hahahaha! That is indeed funny! A lot of call center have that kind of experience too. We just tell them that we got the accent and the English through MTV (which is weird coz growing up, the MTV that I watched was MTV Asia which didnt use a lot of English back then)