Page 204 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

concern for your wellbeing. This concern is similarly reflected in the ways by which
Filipino people say goodbye. The formal word paalam, meaning goodbye, is hardly
used, perhaps because it connotes a certain finality. Rather, people will say Sige
(Okay) or Mag-ingat ka (Be careful).
Two other words provide us with insight on the culture and values of the
Filipino people. One is uwi (to go home). Another is the concept of the lakaran
(journey). In Reynaldo Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution: Popular Movements in the
Philippines 1840-1910, he writes of the lakaran or journey undertaken by Jesus
Christ as narrated in the pasyon (the Passion, the Christian term for the suffering
and death of Jesus) and its similarity to the journey of the revolutionaries as
articulated by Andres Bonifacio, founder of the secret society, the Katipunan. In his
book, Ileto argues that that the 1896 revolt against the Spanish colonizers was a
“journey” for the Filipinos. According to Ileto (105), “The struggle is imagined as
an arduous journey on foot, a lakaran, toward the ‘hills and forests’ where for
centuries Indios ‘fleeing from the bells’ found refuge.”
These words uwi and lakaran are useful as heritage learners study more about

colonialism, migration, and Filipinos and the diaspora, and as second-language
learners strive to know more about the Philippines and its history.

Pagbabasa

Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow. Study the
new words before reading. Then, answer the questions that follow the short article.

Ibig Sabihin Meaning
Halaman Plant

Pinuno; sa pamumuno Leader; led by
Napapalibutan Surrounded
Sinakop Occupied; colonized

Simbolo Symbol
Makikita Will see

Pasukan Entrance
Gusali Building

Paglubog ng araw Sunset
Rebulusyon Revolution

Lumaban Fought
Nakaaalala Remember
Hitsura Looks like