Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Happy Balimtayms day!

Photograph copyright: F. de Jager - Courtesy Philippine Council for Living Traditions


The rain was pouring yesterday so I decided to ride in a jeepney to go home. The jeep is actually going to Tampakan, a neighboring municipality of the City of Koronadal. Our place( Barangay) is the boundary of Koronadal to Tampakan so the people in our place sometimes ride in the jeepney. I was sitting in the front sit together with the two other ladies. In the jeepney, the two ladies were talking, I didn’t understand their conversation because they were speaking in their own language which is the B’laan. I knew then that they were B’laan because they are the only natives living in the mountains of Tampakan(tampakan is composed of Ilonggo, Bisaya and Tagalog and of course the B'laan Tribes). While the waiting for the other passenger,s the other lady asked me ‘what’s the date yesterday day’… I said “February 13, 2008”. Then I heard the other one said “ay! balimtayms na gali b’was..” (“Oh, tomorrow will be balimtayms day…” in English.) What she meant for the word balimtayms is the Valentine’s day… the word doesn’t have corresponding word in Filipino so when we use the word in our language, we use the word as it is.) I just kept quiet and just forced my self not to laugh that time because I knew that they would be offended if I did.


When I reached home I realized that if I chose to laugh the native because she didn’t pronounce the word properly, it would be a shame on my part. They are less educated compare to I am so I should understand why they could not pronounce some words in English properly—and to think that not all educated Filipinos pronounce the English words well.. And it’s not really necessary for us (Filipinos) to be good in the language because after all it is not our mother tongue. The circumstance also made me remember my father’s story of his first assignment being a teacher. He was assigned to teach the natives of Lake Sebu (the T’boli) in the mountains. He said the condition of the natives there is not good. He also said that when they need water for bath or for drink they need to walk 5 kilometers away from the community just to get water, and to think that the place is surrounded by mountains.


The government really forgot them already. They are not able to enjoy the programs and projects of the government, that’s supposed to be for all citizens, for the reason that they are so far away to the civilization (which my father and I think is not right). The wealth of the government should be equally distributed to all citizens no matter how far they are from the civilization and regardless of their tribe. They (gov’t.) should be just and fair to all. The natives of the country should be the focused of the government because they are (I guess) those people who really need help. They should also be taught to preserve their culture (w/c makes the Philippines unique) because it is already vanishing. And it’s not only the government that should give attention to them, I guess we (civilized citizens) should too. We should accept them for who they are and what they are. We should not discriminate them because of their tribes. They are also humans like us who posses dignity. They didn’t choose to be like that. Just try to imagine this: what if you were born as B'laan, you don’t want to feel discriminated and disgusted, right? So let us give them the respect that is due to them. We are all God’s creations and we are all brothers and sisters.


6 comments:

Filipina Ini said...

Wow! This is a beautiful post Weng. Keep posting.. Hmmm.. maganda ang turo ng father ah.. Just study good and help yourself to be the best that you can be. Later on, we can make something to help our country in more ways than what we can at the moment.

Very good post again.

BTW, have we x-linked already? You may add me then pleae inform me. I;d love to add you to my favorites.

Ingat palagi.

Allen's Darling said...

wow i know that part may kilala me jan have you heard Balongo first name yan kilala ko kc he married my bestfriend from Davao City....can we exchanged links too.

aL|e said...

to asawako.net.

hmmm.. wala akong kilalang Balongo eh..nweiz, thank you for the comment.



to ilovephilippines,
alam mo, as much as possible i don't want to judge people talaga. saka laging sinasabi nang tatay ko na 'treat other people as your co-equal kahit sino at ano pa xa.' and i always remember that..

don't worry, i am also trying to be the best person that i can be...

thank you sa lahat! ^_6

honey said...

WOW VERY WELL SAID...I appreciate you sincerely...Keep it up

Anonymous said...

hayz... i am force to make a comment... hehe..
anyway, let's get it started! what can i tell about this blog? i am agree with you on what you have stated that Filipinos are not aware of their pronunciation. honestly, we Filipinos are more competent in writing and speaking english than those who are native speaker. uttering words with its correct pronunciation really needs practise. as what my teacher told us that constant correct practice makes permanent. in other way around, if you use to speak correct pronunciation evrytime then it will follow. but pronunciation is not a basis taht you are a good speaker, there are many factors that you need to develop to be a called a good speaker.. hehe.. ay weng! am i on the right track??! feeling ko ndi na ba.. pro this is wat on my mind ryt now.. hehehe... im on hurry! byers.. see yah "by: Sheena"

aL|e said...

honey:
thanks for spending time reading my article... thank you for the appreciation!
:)


sheena:
wahahaha... i did not force you.. i said, if you want to make a comment just comment...now if you don't have blogger's account yet you can use mine temporarily... lol
para salamat ghapon sa comment ah.. hahaha.. did i bother you?

hmm.. constant practice makes it permanent..? yah... but for the natives nga wala mn lang katungtong sa skwelan ti mabudlayan gid cla eh.. and yar right girl, they are not aware about proper pronounciation..

right track? ewan ko sau! CHAR lang ah... Ofcorz you are, walang wrong track dito.. all comments are highly appreciated!

hehehe.. thank your for the comments dear.. gawa ka na rin ng personal blog mo ha pra next time when you comment eh hindi na account ko ang gagamitin mo.. hehehe.. mwahugs!