PHILIPPINES: SpanTagLish

The three main languages of the Philippines are Tagalog, related to Indonesian, Spanish (which is losing ground) and English. Something like Spanglish is developing. Bienvenido Macario sends me a column by Lito Banayo, whose writing is characterized by the use of Spanish, Tagalog and English as shown below.

"Meanwhile, employees of the entire Department of Tourism would not allow their charter to be violated and their premises to be defiled by political warlordism of the most greedy kind. They have taken a stand, along with their general manager, and to the courts of law they will protest, alongside the court of public opinion. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata sa yugto ng buhay ng napaka-swerteng pamilya ng mga Barbers, de las islas de Surigao, los desiertos de Ilocos, las brisas de Tagaytay, los palos verdes de Baguio, la playa de Palawan, y el rico arrabal de Bel-Air en Makati. Not to forget, sunny California in the US of A."

Bienvenido says: "I have read several of his articles dominated by the Spanish language before. The title characters refer to Phil. Senator Robert Barbers and his family, El Tabako is Fidel Ramos. Others alluded to are Speaker Jose De Venecia and Chavit Singson the gambling lord whose reputation for being corrupt was the basis for a US Court to Nevada grant bail requested by a Filipino who is facing deportation charges in connection with the alleged plunder case of former President Estrada".

Ronald Hilton - 12/2/02