The Commission on the Filipino Language (Filipino: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino; Cebuano: Komisyon sa Pinulongang Filipino; Ilocano: Komision iti Pagsasao a Filipino; Kapampangan: Komisyun king Amanung Filipinu; Pangasinan: Komisyon na Salitan Filipino; Waray: Komisyon ha Pinulungan nga Filipino) is the official regulating body of the Filipino language and the official government institution tasked with developing, preserving, and promoting the various local Philippine languages.[1][2] It was established in accord with the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. In October 2008, José L. Santos, a native of Hagonoy, Bulacan, was appointed chairman of the Commission, succeeding Ricardo María Duran Nolasco.
The Commission, created by Republic Act No. 7104, signed on August 14, 1991 by Former President Corazón Cojuangco Aquino, replaced the Institute of Philippine Languages (IPL) which replaced the Institute of National Language (INL) by virtue of Executive Order No. 117 issued by President Aquino in January 1987. The INL, established in 1937 by Commonwealth Act No. 184, s. 1936, is the first government agency to initiate the development of the Philippine national language.[3]
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The 1st National Assembly of the Philippines passed Commonwealth Act No. 184, s. 1936, establishing an Institute of National Language (INL) (Filipino: Surian ng Wikang Pambansâ). On January 12, 1937, Former President Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina appointed the members to compose the INL. By virtue of Executive Order No. 134 issued and signed by President Quezón on December 30, 1937, approved the adoption of Tagalog as the basis of the national language, and declared and proclaimed the national language based on Tagalog, as the national language of the Philippines.[4] In 1938, the INL was dissolved and replaced with the National Language Institute (NLI). Its purpose was to prepare for the nationwide teaching of the Tagalog-Based National Language (Filipino: Wikang Pambansâ na Batay sa Tagalog) by creating a dictionary and a grammar book with a standardized orthography. In the School Year of 1940-41, the teaching of the National Language (Filipino: Wikang Pambansâ), with its new standardized orthography, was set by law in the fourth year of all high schools in both public and private schools throughout the country.[5] The Tagalog-Based National Language was taught in school only as one of the subject areas in 1940 but was not adapted as the medium of instruction. During World War II, the Japanese encouraged the use of the National Language rather than English in the schools. The Tagalog-Based National Language was, therefore, propagated not only in education but also in mass media and in official communication. The census for 1948 reported that 7,126,913 people or 37.11% of the population spoke the language, representing an increase of 11.7% from the 1939 figure of 4,068,565. Of these seven million people, 47.7% learned it as a second language.[6]
One major criticism of the Commission is that it does not really do its job in developing the Filipino language. This is grounded in the fact that Filipino was essentially Tagalog, a fact acknowledged by former Commissioner, Ricardo María Duran Nolasco,[7] and with an impoverished technical and scientific vocabulary, at that, which relies heavily on foreign borrowings and, often, constructions. It is often left to the universities to develop their own respective terminologies for each field, leading to a lack of uniformity and general public disuse.
It is argued[8] that current state of the Filipino language is contrary to the intention of Republic Act (RA) No. 7104 that requires that the national language be developed and enriched by the lexicon of the country's other languages. However, Resolution 92-1,[9] which defines the national language as "the language spoken in Metro Manila and other business centers of the country", does not necessarily run counter to RA No. 7104.
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