Tanggol Wika: Teddy Boy should apologize for 'belittling' Filipino language

An alliance of educators and individuals promoting the Filipino language on Monday scored former Makati representtive Teddy "Boy" Locsin Jr. for his alleged rants against the Filipino language on social media.

The group urged Locsin to issue a public apology for belittling the national language.

In a post on their Facebook account, Tanggol Wika or Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino described Locsin's rant "against what he calls as Tagalog, as used in today's ?#‎PiliPinasDebates2016?" as misinformed.

Locsin said Tagalog should be discouraged as it is "so long, so bullshitty, so useless a tongue for debate."

Tagalog should be discouraged. So long, so bullshitty, so useless a tongue for debate.

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 20, 2016

He added that the exchange between Senator Grace Poe and former Interior secretary Mar Roxas "is lousy because they used too much Tagalog, a language inappropriate to pointed debate, circular shitty."

He further said that Poe and Roxas were masters of civilized languange of English.

English is the language of men. Tagalog sounds manly only when clipped and short like English.

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 20, 2016

Tanggol Wika said Locsin "should apologize to the masses for belittling and insulting the country's national language" as the group recommended several readings which would help him appreciate Filipino language more.

The group said it is more than willing to offer Locsin free lessons in the use of Filipino as a language of intellectual discourse.

"But then again, he should start by coming down from his ivory tower to come breathe the free air with the common folks who speak Filipino and use it in all forms of discourse, and prefer it too as the language of political discourse as proven by the countless intelligent tweets and posts on today's presidential debates and countless printed and online primers, statements, manifestos etc. published by respected people's organizations and articles released by progressive alternative media groups," it said.

"Teddy Boy will be awed by the depth of popular discussions in the national language, in forums, community chats, assemblies, academic conferences etc. if he tries to learn his people's language," the group added.

The group said Locsin "surely knows English is the language of oligarchs, landlords, corrupt bureaucrats and other unsavory characters who as a class exploits and oppress the common folks who speak Filipino and/or other Philippine languages eh?"

Tanggol Wika said the language that the presidential aspirants used is obviously Filipino, the national language as per the 1987 Constitution.

It added that the Constitution emphasizes that Filipino is the primary language of official communication (and medium of instruction too).

It further said that the presidential debates are official government activities as these are actually initiated by the Commission on Elections, hence, the debates should really be in Filipino.

"Filipino is the language of 99% of Filipinos (in contrast, as per official statistics, only less than 1% of households in the Philippines have English as their primary language.) Filipino has been widely used as language of mainstream media since the 1990s and its use has been beneficial to the people's consciousness and discernment," it said.

The group said no language is bullshitty, but any language can sound bullshitty if used by crazies.

"English sounds bullshitty when used by Trump but melodious when used by Bernie Sanders. Filipino sounds bullshitty when used by presidentiables in long-winded self-defenses and crude tirades but melodious when used by activists in explaining their dreams and plan for a better Philippines emptied of oligarchs and dynasties," said Tanggol Wika. —ALG, GMA News