The Song "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" Really Reeks of Historical Ignorance

It's Buwan ng Wika or Month of the Language. One of the songs that's often sung in the Buwan ng Wika program is "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" or "I'm Filipino" in English. I remembered this song was sung in the Filipino language class. I did hate the Filipino language, especially as an ethnic Chinese growing up in the Philippines.

Examining the lyrics

The lyrics go like this with English translation:

I am a Filipino

Ako'y isang pinoy

In heart and soul

Sa puso't diwa

Filipino born

Pinoy na isinilang

In our country

Sa ating bansa

I am not good at foreign languages

Ako'y hindi sanay sa wikang mga banyaga

I am a Filipino who has my own language

Ako'y pinoy na mayroong sariling wika

Gat Jose Rizal then spoke

Si Gat Jose Rizal nooy nagwika

He preached in our country

Sya ay nagpangaral sa ating bansa

It is said to not love one's own language

Ang 'di raw magmahal sa sariling wika

The smell is more than stinky fish

Ay higit pa ang amoy sa mabahong isda

National language is the word I use

Wikang Pambansa ang gamit kong salita

My hometown

Bayan kong sinilangan

I always want freedom

Hangad ko lagi ang kalayaan

So that you can understand

Aron ka makasabot

Let's go to Visayas

Bisay-on ta

It was snatched

Gisabot kini

So that you know

Aron masayod ka

I like Tagalog

Haluan ug Tagalog

When you can keep up

Nang makasabay ka

Gather and unite

Sama-samahin at pag-isahin

The terms

Ang mga kataga

Nurture, fight, Be proud

Iaruga, ipaglaban mo, Ipagmalaki

You shouldn't be ashamed to be brown

Di ka dapat mahiya na kayumanggi

The Filipino race will not be oppressed

Di pasisiil ang lahing Pilipino

Show burning heart

Ipakita umaalab ang puso

Wherever you put it

Bisan asa ibutang

The fighter was defeated

Pumalag ang palaban

Anytime, anywhere

Kahit kailan, kahit saan

Will not back down from the fight

Di aatras sa laban

This is fighting blood

Ito ay dugong palaban

Ah, the symbol of my country

Ah sa sagisag ng bansa kong

Very rich in culture and history

Napakayaman sa kultura at kasaysayan

Philippines, my hometown

Pilipinas, bayan kong sinilangan

Freedom is my only desire, oohhh...

Kalayaan tangi kong Hangad, oohhh...

I am Filipino in my mind, my heart, my spirit

Pinoy ako sa isip ko, puso ko, diwa

I am Filipino in heart and soul

Sa puso't diwa ako ay pinoy

I am a Filipino

Ako'y isang pinoy

I am Filipino in my mind, my heart, my spirit

Pinoy ako sa isip ko, puso ko, diwa

I'm Filipino at heart...

Sa puso't diwa ako ay pinoy...

One part of the song that really ticks me off is the one that says:

Ako'y hindi sanay sa wikang mga banyaga

Ako'y Pinoy na mayroong sariling wika

It's because a study of Filipino history will tell us that there's no "pure Pinoy culture". A study of Philippine history will tell us that the Philippines isn't "unique". I took a few beverages from the Malaysian tea brand, Tealive, and I wrote about how it can be a huge business opportunity in the Bangsamoro Region. It just shows us how Southeast Asia is made up of Austronesian people from both Malaysia and Indonesia. 

From Facts and Details, one can read about how the Philippines is closer to Malaysia and Indonesia than it thinks:

It is believed that around 3000 B.C. Malay people—or people that evolved into the Malay tribes that dominate Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines—arrived in the Philippines. About 2300 years ago Malay people from the Asian mainland or Indonesia arrived in the Philippines and brought a more advanced culture; iron melting and production of iron tools, pottery techniques and the system of sawah's (rice fields). Additional migrations took place over the next millennia.

Many believe the first Malays were seafaring, tool-wielding Indonesians who introduced formal farming and building techniques. According to Lonely Planet: “ It's fair to assume that this bunch was busily carving out the spectacular rice terraces of North Luzon some 2000 years ago. With the Iron Age came the Malays. Skilful sailors, potters and weavers, they built the first permanent settlements and prospered from around the A.D. 1st century until the 16th century, when the Spanish arrived. The wave migration theory holds that the Malays arrived in at least three ethnically diverse waves. The first wave provided the basis for the modern-day Bontoc and other tribes of North Luzon. The second laid the foundations for the most dominant of modern-day indigenous groups - the Bicolano, Bisayan and Tagalog. The third wave is thought to have established the fiercely proud Muslim Malays.” [Source: Lonely Planet =]

Over time, social and political organization developed and evolved in the widely scattered islands. The basic unit of settlement was the “barangay” (a Malay word for boat that came to be used to denote a communal settlement). Kinship groups were led by a “datu” (chief), and within the “barangay” there were broad social divisions consisting of nobles, freemen, and dependent and landless agricultural workers and slaves. [Source: Library of Congress *]

The social and political organization of the population in the widely scattered islands evolved into a generally common pattern. Only the permanent-field rice farmers of northern Luzon had any concept of territoriality. The basic unit of settlement was the barangay, originally a kinship group headed by a datu (chief). Within the barangay, the broad social divisions consisted of nobles, including the datu; freemen; and a group described before the Spanish period as dependents. Dependents included several categories with differing status: landless agricultural workers; those who had lost freeman status because of indebtedness or punishment for crime; and slaves, most of whom appear to have been war captives. *

Written records and archeological artifacts from this period are few. “Migration is only one theory. “An alternative proposed by some Philippine scholars suggests that the early inhabitants of Southeast Asia were of the same racial group (the Pithecanthropus group, to be exact), with more or less the same traditions and beliefs. Over time, they say, divisions formed according to the demands of the environment.” 

Over the centuries, Indo-Malay migrants were joined by Chinese traders. A major development in the early period was the introduction of Islam to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from the Indonesian islands. By A.D. 1500, Islam had been established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there to Mindanao; it reached the Manila area by 1565. In the midst of the introduction of Islam came the introduction of Christianity, with the arrival of the Spanish. *

I also wrote about how Malaysia's indigenous people are linked to its neighboring Southeast Asian countries. It's no surprise to find that the culture of Mindanao and Malaysia are closer than you think. Filipino languages, including the national language Tagalog, borrows from a lot of foreign languages. This reminds me that I also wrote that the Filipino language borrows words from the Malay-Indo language. It also borrowed some words from the Sanskrit (and there's always that offensive stinky Bumbay joke), Chinese, and Spanish (because of the nearly three centuries of domination).

Studying more about Asian history makes me realize that while I can still love my national language, studying its origins can help me understand Filipino culture. The Filipino people are a melting pot of mostly Malaysian people. As mentioned earlier, I tasted Tealive's beverages and the Aren Caramel Series (read here) reminds me of the taste of some beverages in Surigao City. I tasted the fruit shakes they had and it has a taste similar to Filipinos. 

Speaking Tagalog means speaking in a language full of foreign influence. Just think that the Malaysian company's Loob Holdings' loob means inside. There are really so many words in Malaysian that a Filipino might guess rightfully. The song "Dayang Dayang" (read about that here) has been sung in many Malay type languages found in the Sinama language. The Sinama language is in Malaysia, Indonesia, and in Mindanao. "Dayang Dayang" has many renditions in Mindanao. Maybe, the most familiar version is the one I believe is wrongfully attributed to Indian singer Rai Aishwarya. There's also the version by Indonesian singer Virvina Vica. It's no surprise because the Filipino language strongly derives from the Malaysian language and blended it with Spanish words, Chinese words, and some Indian words.

Instead, the song needs to be reworded in some ways. Maybe, instead of singing about how's one proud of not being good at foreign languages, instead saying, "Marami rin ang wika ng nga banyaga..." or "There are many foreign languages" to show that the Filipino languages. Then instead write, "Kami dito mayroon din kaming sariling wika." or "We also have our own national language here." 

That's why I'm really against "Filipino First" policy. I even feel now that maybe Carlos P. Garcia doesn't deserve a hero's burial. It also feels hypocritical to object to Ferdinand E. Marcos' burial at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (Graveyard of the Heroes) while supporting a protectionist president. This song only gives pride but has never done anything to improve the Philippines.