Page 431 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

says: “The National Assembly shall take steps towards the development and formal
adoption of a common national language known as Filipino.”
2
This becomes reality through the 1987 constitution. Article XIV: Education,
Science and Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports, Section 6, states as quoted
earlier: “The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall
be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other
languages.”

What essentially were the changes brought about by the 1935, 1973 and 1987
constitutions? First, we should note that these constitutions were made following
political change. In 1935, it signalled the establishment of the Commonwealth
government. In 1973, the constitution “legitimized” Martial rule and paved way for
the “New Society” and the authoritarian rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. In
1987, the constitution was again changed following the People Power revolt of 1986,

the flight of Marcos to Hawaii, and the establishment of the revolutionary
government of Corazon Aquino.
The rewriting of the constitutions paved the way for Filipino language experts
and nationalists to lobby for a language that would be more accessible to the masses;
for changes in the orthography; for legislation that would provide for institutes
working in the interests of the national language; and for increased assertion of
sovereignty. For example, it was important for many to make Pilipino (as it was then
called) the “official language” because it was only then that this language could be
used in court or in official documents. Otherwise, the bizarre system of having
translators present in court (translating into English what a witness says in Filipino)

would continue. Official documents pertaining to land ownership, for example,
would continue to be written in English, thus disenfranchising those who knew only
Tagalog/Pilipino/ Filipino.
Similarly, in 1987 teachers, especially from the University of the Philippines,
lobbied to introduce more letters to the Pilipino/Filipino alphabet because this would
then signal the inclusion into Filipino of the letters of the Philippines’ other

languages.
Thus, the “history of the language” is also the history of a country and its people.