Why do most Tagalogs not understand Bisaya?

 By: 

Ryan Fernandez

B.A. in Visual Arts, Fordham University (Graduated 2006)

Bisaya is the colloquial term for Cebuano, a Philippine language originally spoken in Cebu, but now used as a lingua franca in Central Visayas and many parts of Mindanao. As such, speaking Bisaya/Cebuano and being an ethnic Cebuano are not mutually exclusive. Nearly 20 million or 1 out of 5 Filipinos speaking Bisaya as their first language.

A bit confusing is that Bisaya/Cebuano also belongs to a wider family of languages known as Visayan languages which includes Hiligaynon, Waray, Capizon, Aklanon, Boholano, Surigaonon, Tausug, and many more. The archipelagic (island) nature of the Philippines is responsible for the variety of forms.

Bisaya and other Visayan languages are still sometimes erroneously labeled as dialects with the root language being Tagalog. This is false. Bisaya and Tagalog are sister Philippine languages.

Most Tagalog native speakers don’t comprehend or use Bisaya for the simple reason that there’s no compelling reason to learn it. The Tagalog homeland consists of Southern Luzon, parts of Central Luzon, and the National Capital Region or Metro Manila. Combined they contribute to more than 50% of the Philippines’ GDP in 2019[1]. The business and finance sectors, heavy industries, shipping, top universities, media networks and seat of government are all in Metro Manila. Tagalog is the dominant language of business, governance, and education. The bulk of the population leans heavily towards these regions as well[2].

A close parallel would be the role of English in the world today. People from Anglophone countries like the UK, US, and Australia often speak a single language - English. The universality and prominence of English globally means Anglophones don’t need to master French or Spanish or Mandarin or Hindi. Rather, it’s the other way around.

Footnotes

[1] Dissecting Data: What 2019 Regional GDP tells us about the pandemic, PH economic resilience

[2] https://psa.gov.ph/population-and-housing/node/120080

PH to host Mister and Miss Runway Model Universe 2022 Competition

Organizers of Mister and Miss Runway Model Universe 2022 and representatives pose during the press conference held in Quezon City recently. (Carissa Alcantara)

by Manila Bulletin Entertainment

The Philippines is set to host the Mister and Miss Runway Model Universe 2022 Competition.

This was announced by the Prime Event Productions Philippines during a press conference held at the B Hotel in Quezon City recently.

In attendance were Marianne Galang (Mister RMU Philippines national director), Christel Bulabon (Miss RMU Philippines national director), Shai Mejia (assistant national director), Mailyn Gocomon (president, May Precious Skincare Clinic), and Philip Tiongson (Stemcell expert formulator), Fiel Ferdinand (CEO, RMU), Fedelina Legaspi (RMU-CFO); fashion designer Paul Semira; and crown designer Manny Halasan.

Vergilio Cabilan, founder of RMU, said he was inspired to continue this pageant journey under the new normal.

“I am here to continue our dream, our core, our mission, to bring world-class free education to our beneficiaries,” Cabilan said.  

Junichi Yabushita and Maria Regina Rose Navajas who will represent the Philippines in the competition shared their preparations and advocacies for the upcoming modeling competition.

“I want to showcase what else I can bring to the people. I’m not here just to become a model, but I am also here to help other people to showcase my advocacy, which is sustainable education for children.” Navajas said.

The delegates from other countries are scheduled to arrive in the Philippines on May 23. The grand coronation will be held on May 28. (Carissa Alcantara)

Cebu City, Cebu province placed under state of calamity

by Calvin Cordova, Manila Bulletin

CEBU CITY — Cebu City has been placed under a state of calamity due to the effects of typhoon Agaton.

Mayor Michael Rama made the declaration on Sunday afternoon as the city was still experiencing incessant rains.

Rama said landslides have been reported in barangays Pamutan, Toong, Sinsin, Budlaan and Busay.

Rama said residents living near rivers and coastal areas had been evacuated.

Upon Rama’s order, classes and government works were suspended on Monday (April 11)

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has also ordered the suspension of classes in all levels on Monday.

The Philippine Coast Guard-Central Visayas (PCG-7) reported that at least 300 passengers were stranded in various Cebu ports after several trips were cancelled.

The PCG 7 reported that a roll-on-roll-off (roro) vessel of Jomalia shipping submerged while docked in Consuelo Port, San Francisco town, Camotes Island.

The PCG said the vessel’s 14 crew members escaped unharmed after they decided to abandon the ship when huge waves started battering it.

PCG 7 said the submerged ferry had 5,430 liters of diesel oil and 68 liters of lube oil on board.

“Per latest info reveals that risk of oil spill is yet to be determined while inspection or monitoring is still in progress,” the PCG 7 said.

'Agaton' leaves 23 dead in Eastern Visayas, Davao region

by Aaron Recuenco, Manila Bulletin

At least 20 people died while six others were reported missing in Eastern Visayas due to the massive flooding and several; landslides triggered by the onslaught of tropical depression “Agaton”.

Based on the report from the Police Regional Office 8, almost all of the fatalities were from Baybay City when at least three residential areas were buried in a landslide.

In Barangay Mailhi, a total of 16 residents were confirmed to have died of the landslide while three more were recovered in Barangay Kantagnos. Another cadaver was recovered in Barangay Bunga.

The reported deaths in Eastern Visayas brought to 23 the death toll from “Agaton” as the local police also reported that two people died in Monkayo, Davao de Oro and another one in Cateel, Davao Oriental.

Photo: PNP-PIO

Six more people were reported missing in Eastern Visayas.

Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, director of the Police Regional Office 8, said he had already ordered the deployment of more policemen and equipment to assist in the search, rescue and retrieval operations in areas affected by landslides and flash floods.

“We already deployed rubber boats,vehicles and other equipment that include handheld radios for these operations,” Banac said.

He said the deployment of policemen also include the assistance in the evacuation of residents.

Based on the latest data, a total of 1,515 families or 5,703 individuals that were moved to various evacuation centers.

HAPPY EASTER!

To die is to live! We are always shocked when in the middle of our surroundings, somebody passes away. Our usual questions are: "Why die so young? Why he, why she? A natural reaction, indeed.

When Jesus finally gave up His spirit on the cross after three hours of bitter agony, the Pharisees said: "Finally, that impostor has gone. He deserved to die that kind of death!"

Let's remember: After the waving of the tree branches by the Jewish crowd and Hosannas of Palm Sunday, the arrest of Jesus betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Olives, the imprisonment and humiliation of Holy Thursday night, the carrying of the cross, crucifixion, and death at Good Friday, - Jesus Christ rose from the tomb on Easter Sunday - glorious and will never and die again!

For Jesus, dying was not the end of everything. It was the beginning of a new life. Symbolically we see the Easter Resurrection of our Lord depicted in various ways, which always point to life after death. Especially in parts of the world where deep winter lets all plants and trees "sleep" for a couple of months, people enjoy the spirit of the new shoots that come out of a big trunk of a tree.

Eggs were usually symbols used in springtime long before Christianity came into existence. The eggs symbolize life, which its causing it to grow. Since Easter usually occurs at spring time (March or April), which is already summer in the Philippines, this egg-symbol was still in use among the pagans of early times when Christian were celebrating Easter.

A blessed Easter to all of you, my dear readers. Walk this day with great confidence in your heart, mind and soul.

And, enjoy your egg hunting with your loved ones...!

Python adding threats to endangered Philippine eagle

by Antonio Colina IV, Manila Bulletin

DAVAO CITY – Animal keepers at the Philippine Eagle Center have set up traps to catch a reticulated python that’s preying on animals inside their enclosure in Barangay Malagos, Baguio District in Davao City.

Espoir at three months (Photo courtesy of Philippine Eagle Foundation)

This is after a juvenile Philippine eagle named ‘Espoir’ was found dead inside its enclosure at around 12:13 a.m. last April 5. Espoir, a French word for “Hope,” was an offspring of eagle parents Ariela and MVP Matatag.

Last month, a Philippine subsidiary of global animal health company, Ceva Santé Animale, adopted the chick. The Philippine Eagle Foundation and Ceva signed a Memorandum of Agreement on the adoption of Espoir where the company pledged to provide an annual support of P200,000 to cover the eaglet’s food, keeper care, veterinary care, and shelter maintenance.

 

The foundation said the animal keepers immediately took measures to capture the snake, a species classified as a hazard under the center’s biosecurity measures. Consequently, pythons are adding threats to the Philippine eagle which is listed as critically endangered owing to loss of habitat.

“Reticulated pythons are natural resident species inside the Philippine Eagle Center and the surrounding watershed area,” it said.

It added that traps have been set up around the center and search parties mobilized at night to capture the snake.

“Preventive measures are in place to ensure enclosures for animals are safe against hazards and incidents of this nature. The walls of the enclosure were snake proofed with an added layer of ½ inch wire mesh on top of the original cyclone wire with hole size of 2 by 2 inches,” it said.

PEF said that the center suspected that the possible entry points could be the feeding chute, made of a PVC pipe where food is dropped, or the screen ceiling.

PEF said the enclosure of the eaglet is adjacent to an adult Philippine eagle from the wild that can easily catch a snake but “unfortunately for fledglings, they are still vulnerable to predation.”

“They are classified as hazards under the PEC’s biosecurity measures. As such, snake proofing was done on the enclosures of the eaglet and other animals that a snake can prey on,” it said.

 

Dr. Jayson Ibañez, the foundation’s director of research and conservation, said the snake has not yet been captured.

He said the center has already enlisted two Lumad forest guards for help to catch the snake.

“Nagpatulong kami sa aming IP forest guards who are good at trapping wildlife. Two IP forest guards ang nakaduty for trapping ngayon with our own team (Two IP forest guards are on duty for trapping with our team),” he said.

MAKE MUSIC - NOT WAR!

Music - from the Greek "mousikos" and pertaining to one of the nine muses in the Greek mythology - is the art of combining sounds or sequences of notes into harmonious patterns hopefully playing to ears and satisfying to our emotions. An insipid and dry explanation - I must confess. 

Can you, my dear reader, imagine a life without music? For me, it would be such a monotonous and boring world. I don't think only about the musical "mayfly" or the so-called "musical nine days wonder". Music doesn't consists of Groove or Techno alone. I am not against these or other music trends, because each generation has its own music development. But we have greater riches of different kinds of music by going back to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance (which means 'rebirth'), the Baroque Age, the Classical Period, and the Romantic Era up to 1900. The Western tradition of music has its origins in the chant tradition of the Early Christian Era.

Everybody can develop his  or her own passion of music. When I was four or so, I grew up already with those kinds of music. I asked my parents voluntary if I could get piano lessons. It was easy for us because the church organist at that time was our neighbor and a proud owner of a grand piano. I listened my first organ recital composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. My passion of music was in stage of development that made it possible for me to join the school band. The Beatles - and Rolling Stones later - era followed - much to the disappointment of my parents and grandparents, who still dreamed of their music, such as Jazz and Swing back to the Golden Twenties.

Everybody has his or her own music philosophy. I learned from my dentist friend in Los Angeles, that her patients lose their state of anxiety by listening soft background music during having their teeth attended to. A gynecologist explainEd, that if a pregnant woman mostly listens to classical music, her child might hear, learn, find out and experience another (better?) development then other children. 

The church reformator Martin Luther (1483-1546) explained it in this way: "Many times, when I was in terrible darkness, I prayed - and I listened music, which delivered and refreshed me!" The German poet and composer E. T. A. Hoffmann said 1801: "If you start simply being speechless, music will take over!" And Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), without doubt one of the true and just awesome Western composers said: "Music is utmost revelation then an wisdom and philosophy!" 

"I feel like flying after entering a church, praying and listening the music of heaven!" the German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759-1809) philosophized about music in his drama "Maria Stuart".

A simple melody can make feel us happy, sentimental, smiling or crying, aggressive or relaxed. A form of light entertainment in which songs, dialogue, dance, and humor are combined with a not too serious plot is as much as important then a dramatic opera or the single musician or street singer, not being a man of culture, but entertaining us people.

Let's develop our own passion of music, so that we might see the great resources for our daily life, if we accept, that music plays a rule in it. Make music - not war!

What is one food you'll never eat in the Philippines?

 

Paolo Emmanuel

Born and raised in the Philippines

Woodworms, also known as “Tamilok” by the locals in Palawan island. They serve it raw with lots of vinegar.

As the name implies, they love chewing on wood, LOTS of wood. It wasn’t long before the locals decided to experiment on the slimy fuckers and found out that they are edible——-Thus, the delicacy was born!

cringe

Anyway, I was at Palawan last month and a nice lady approached me and asked me if I wanted to try the local delicacy. She showed me what it looked like…and to be honest, it didn’t look bad at all.

The presentation was beautiful! If I didn’t know what it was.. I would’ve ate it without second thoughts.

So, I decided to give it a try, even though my old man warned me. But, I just shrugged him off and YOLO’ed the thing.

Bear Grylls would be proud!

The taste wasn’t awful, it somehow reminded me of oysters. The spicy vinegar really helped.

BUT….

After a few hours of ingesting the worms.. I felt sick! It was like a warzone in my stomach. I then had to endure the agonizing pain for an hour because I was on a scheduled tour with other people.

After the tour was over, I literally ran to the nearest restroom and finally relieved myself! *Phew*

Who would’ve known that a bunch of worms could cause so much trouble? So, I made a vow to myself that I’m never gonna touch those again. EVER!

A taste of Twitter’s Tinola War

Chicken Tinola

Last year, Twitter cooked up a storm when Tinola hit the trending topic. A lot of people went around slandering the famous Pinoy dish. Some netizens even posted negative tweets saying stuff like ”Tinola is only chicken boiled in water” or how they “Haven’t had a single Tinola dish that’s actually delicious.” Of course, a hot take like this on Twitter did not go unnoticed. Netizens had so much to say about it, one of the Twitter threads gained over 15.6K Likes. Not only that, several social pages on Facebook joined in on the conversation! Facebook posts from Kabalastugan and FTTM garnered more than 3K shares.

Netizens were quick to call out the slanderers and defended the underrated Pinoy dish. 

Shots were fired and Tinola defenders fought back hard.

A lot of users also pointed out the deep connection they have with the dish ever since they were kids.

And when you wake up with a killer hangover from a night of drinks and partying, Tinola is here to save the day.

However, what really made Tinola so dear to a lot of Filipinos is its simple ingredients and recipe. For most Pinoys, Tinola is the first-ever dish they learned how to cook at home. It’s usually tied to a heartwarming memory of their parents or grandparents teaching them their ways to cook it. No matter the difference in experiences, one thing they share in common is getting in on the secret to a flavorful bowl of love. A surefire way to level up Tinola– Knorr Chicken Cubes.

No joke, Tinola is such a comfort food! Plus it is so easy to do plus the taste is definitely ! https://t.co/OjAiA1ZSTd

— Trish Denise (@trishramos) February 28, 2022

No matter how you cook your Tinola–with papaya or sayote–I think we can all agree that every spoonful of this hearty dish feels like a warm hug from our childhood. So make it even more special and flavorful with Knorr Chicken Cubes! 

Davao de Oro under state of calamity

RALPH LAWRENCE G. LLEMIT, SunStar Davao

THE entire province of Davao de Oro was declared under state of calamity on Friday, April 8, 2022, due to the recent heavy rains resulting in many families that were evacuated.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan, headed by Vice Governor Maricar Zamora, signed Resolution 1813-2022, declaring the entire province under state of calamity.

This is upon the recommendation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council headed by Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy.

According to the resolution, the state of calamity in the province was due to the low pressure area (LPA), a weather disturbance that caused continuous heavy to torrential rains on April 5 and 6.

The LPA had affected several municipalities in the province, resulting in the suspension of classes and work, and the pre-emptive and forced evacuation activities among residents.

Based on the initial rapid damage assessment and needs analysis conducted by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), several houses, infrastructures, livelihoods, crops and other agricultural products were damaged, along with the powerlines.

"In order to facilitate expedient delivery of services to the affected individuals and/or communities in our Province, a declaration of State of Calamity is deemed necessary," the resolution states.

In a situation report provided by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, as of April 5, a total of 896 families were affected from reports received in Monkayo, Compostela, New Bataan, Mawab, while 353 internally displaced families were reported in Monkayo and Mawab. Meanwhile, two persons were reportedly missing.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Heavy Rainfall Warning No. 3 issued at 8:10 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental were placed under Red Warning Level due to the continuous rising of water levels which possible severe flooding in low lying areas and landslides in mountainous areas.