ACTOR and director Joel Torre has come out with statements that advocate the Philippines’ diverse languages. (Source: Philippine Star, 6th of May, 2025)
It’s best to show excerpts of what he directly said in this matter.Here are the statements I wholeheartedly agree with:
“I hope we come up with a movie later on na iba’t- ibang dialects, they’re all in one…like fraternity, na iba’t-ibang klase so that we’re able to embrace each other’s cultures, we embrace each other’s language, and nagpapakita yun talaga ang Filipino.”
He’s happy to see more regional representation in cinema, including through language, in recent years.
Here are the statements I have doubts on:
“She’s not an Ilonggo (referring to actress Maris Racal to whom he plays father to her character in ‘Incognito’ but she’s able to deliver (her lines) as a real Ilongga. Because she’s from Davao, that’s why.”
“Ay sus, nagpasalamat gyud ako sa mga Ilonggo (for making our scenes trend),” Torre said, stressing how it’s “using the Ilonggo accent not as a means of comedy.”
“Hindi siya (ginagamit) sa pagpatawa. We’re doing drama sequences, pero pasok siya. So I think people should stop looking at Bisayan accent or Ilocano accent or Kapampangan as a means of comedic effect.”
My comment: It’s possible that the real reason why people like to watch these vignettes is that they like the Ilonggo sweetly singsong accent; not that they really respect the Ilonggo ethno linguistic people, and would like them to survive in the far future. This has to be corrected with solutions I shall narrate below.
Here are the statements I disagree with also wholeheartedly, to be honest:
He points to places like Palawan as a microcosm of language diversity: “If you go to Palawan, for example, I think it’s the most complete set-up of mga migrants na nagpupunta dun, galing sa iba’t-ibang probinsya – from Visayas, Mindanao, may Ilonggo, may Tagalog, and if you look at the language, nag-evolve, which I think is an example of how a Filipino language can evolve. Hindi lang Cuyonon, hindi lang yung local language nila, kundi It’s a welcome thing.”
From the viewpoint of linguistics, this means that the Cuyonons are unable to ACCULTURATE immigrants.
A sign of a healthy ethnolinguistic people is they are able to ACCULTURATE immigrants to their indigenous territories.
If this trend continues, Cuyonons will be extinct as an ethnolinguistic people in a few more generations, probably completely Tagalized. Except for isolated areas such as the Cuyo islands.
This is not a singular event. There are indications that in the Spanish era, much of Bataan and Bulacan were Kapampangan. Unable to ACCULTURATE Tagalog immigrants, nowadays the Kampangans have been reduced to Pampanga and southern Tarlac. (To be continued)/PN
