'Toy napigket nga daga
Pitpitenmi nga umuna
Danggayanmi't kankanta
Takkiagmi a napigsa
Kettang ken bannogmi
dikam igingina 

     Mannamili
     Ilokano Folk Song

FULL PAPER

1.0  Introduction

          In certain areas where lingua francas exist and compete with the native language, the local language tends to be overpowered by the dominating lingua franca which is often more preferred by the speakers. This linguistic situation is commonly observed in localities where speakers are bilingual, trilingual and sometime quadrilingual, e.g. aside from their own native language the speakers are also fluent in a regional, national or even an international lingua franca. An example of the above phenomenon is the language situation in San Fernando City, the capital of La Union, a province in the northwestern part of Luzon, Philippines. In this city, Ilokano which is just one of the more than a hundred languages and dialects in the country is also considered the regional lingua franca of the entire Northern Luzon. Aside from Ilokano, residents are also fluent in Filipino, the Tagalog-based national language, and English, a foreign language and now considered an international lingua franca. Filipino and English compete with the local languages in almost all aspects of communication, e.g. education, religion, commerce, media, government, etc. It is commonly observed that Ilokano is merely a tool for verbal and other informal forms of communication and is not a preferred language for the more formal social activities.

Given this linguistic ability and fluency, what language is the most effective in governing a small political unit like a barangay or municipality? Which language would the common people use in order to convey their desires and sentiments to higher government bodies? On the other hand, which language would the politicians use to get the trust of the people and thus choose them to be their representatives in the higher government? These are just some of the questions that this research paper aims to answer.

This paper specifically aims to determine the role of the three languages, namely, Ilokano, Filipino and English in the local government of the City of San Fernando. When do local officials use the native language Ilokano, and when do they shift to the other two? In this paper an actual use and interaction of the three languages is observed and studied. This study is important because there are very few linguistic researches, particularly in the Philippines, that make use of empirical data to demonstrate and prove the actual use and interaction of the languages in a common and natural but specific situation. Linguists, academicians and politicians commonly emphasize the importance of the languages in Philippine society but these have to be empirically proven just like in any social scientific research. Some studies have been done on the importance of the languages in the field of education and mass media but not as yet in a political set up particularly in the local government outside of the Tagalog speaking areas. In Metro Manila and other Tagalog speaking towns and cities speakers are commonly bilingual—in Tagalog and English—but outside this area within the Philippines people speak three or more languages. For example in San Fernando, English is not just an international medium or a language used with foreigners but also as national and and local medium of communication.

2.0 The Data and Methodology

          In this paper empirical data on the actual use of the three languages were gathered through quantitative and qualitative means. For the quantitative analysis, a survey was conducted on the barangay captains or village leaders regarding their preferred choice of language when conducting local meetings, consulting or talking to the village people or when communicating with higher government officials. In this form other personal information regarding the leaders were also asked like their age and educational attainment as these may also affect their choice of language. A simple classification of the villages (re urban or rural) was also considered. In this paper, a village is considered rural if it is located far from the poblasion or town proper; and urban if it is near or within the town proper and can also be traversed by the national highway. This variable is important because the urban areas are more thickly populated than the rural areas. Migrants tend to live in the urban rather than rural places. The influx of migrants in the city is due to the strategic location of the city being the center of Region I, meaning all the regional offices of the government institutions are located in San Fernando City. There are only five questions in relation to the choice of language the barangay captain chooses in his local administration. In the questionnaire Tagalog is used instead of Filipino because to the Ilokanos, Tagalog is the more familiar name of the national language, not Filipino.

          San Fernando City has 59 villages called locally as barangays. But when this survey was conducted last September 28, 2005 in one of the regular meetings of the captains, 56 were present and 3 were absent. Nevertheless, the lack of information from the three barangays did not significantly affect the results of the analysis. Thus, actual computation in the quantitative analysis is based on 56 and not on 59 barangays.

For the qualitative part, the researcher went directly to the City Hall to video the actual regular meeting of the Liga ng mga Barangay or League of Barangay Captains. In this meeting all information, resolution, and legislation coming from higher government, e.g. provincial, regional, national, are explained and implemented in the local level, e.g. city or municipality, and from here to the village and constituents through the barangay captains. Even business and other social concerns are channelled to the local level through this meeting. The minutes were transcribed verbatim and not edited to be able to determine the actual use of the three languages, e.g. when is a certain language used as

monolingual, bilingual or trilingual. The transcript was not translated into English so that the text will clearly show which utterances are in Ilokano, Tagalog and English.

As accounted in the transcription, there are six parts. First, the City Accountant spoke and explained the division or proceeds of the Real Property Tax of the city among the various barangays and other concerns of the city. The example that was given is the tax from CSI, the newly built (one and a half year of operation) and the only mall in the city. It is located in Barangay Biday, about three kilometers from the city proper. The second speaker was the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) Officer and she reminded the captains of the directive from higher government about the census or listing of all residents in all barangays. (Census is done every five years in the Philippines and 2005 is census updating year.) The third speaker is the City Legal Officer and she explained the role of the barangay captain on how to implement the process of mediation and arbitration in settling local disputes. The fourth part is an example of interactive communication between the legal officer, the president of the league and some barangay captains who participated in the open forum. The fifth portion is a business proposal from a businessman from Manila where he introduced a product which seems to be needed by every barangay and could also be a private business for whoever is interested, official or ordinary resident. The last part is the actual meeting presided over by Mr. Mario Ortega, the ABC president or Association of Barangay Captains. The topic was about the proposal to defer or postpone the barangay elections which was discussed in the plenary sessions of both the Congress and the Senate.

3.0 San Fernando City, La Union

          The City of San Fernando is the capital of La Union. It is also the center of Region I, composed of four provinces, namely, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan. It is therefore inevitable that many migrants come to the city from other provinces and regions. San Fernando became a city on March 2, 1998 and has a total of 59 barangays.

          The city is bounded by the towns of San Juan in the north, Bagulin in the east, Bauang in the south, and Lingayen Gulf which is part of China Sea in the west. Based on the cluster map of the city, there are three classifications of barangays, namely, coastal or barangays located along the seacoast, inland or barangays that are on the plains, and upland or barangays in the mountainous areas of the city. In this paper, there are only two classifications, rural and urban; the coastal areas are included under urban because these are thickly populated being very near the town proper and can be traversed by the national highway. Based on the 2000 population census, San Feranando has a total population of 102,082 in 59 barangays and 20,755 households. (2000 Population Census)

Language situation in San Fernando

          There are three major languages being used in San Fernando. Ilokano is the native language and also the regional lingua franca or medium of communication in Northern Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region and some towns of Region 3, towns from the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales. More than nine million people speak Ilokano and it is the third largest language in the country, after Tagalog and Cebuano. It is also a member of the Cordillera family of Northern Philippine languages. (McFarland: 1980) There are also migrants who come from other parts of the country and speak Bikol, Kapampangan, Cebuano, and Cordillera languages. There is already a Muslim community in the city and they also speak various Muslim languages like Maranao, Tausug, or Maguindanao. Among the non-Ilocano speakers, Filipino is the medium of communication but they often refer to this language as Tagalog because in fact, Tagalog is more familiar to them than Filipino. (To them and to non-linguists, Filipino refers to the people and the nationality and not to the national language.)

          Nevertheless, majority of the population is bilingual and conversant in both Ilokano and Tagalog, in schools, offices, and in other places. In local media or radio stations broadcasters often shift from Ilokano to Tagalog and sometimes English. English dominate print media nationally or locally; however, Ilokano is productively and progressively used in the written form especially in some magazines like, Rimat, Sirmata and Bannawag; the last one has the widest circulation. Bannawag is read in all places of the world where there is an Ilocano migrant, particularly in the urban centers of the United States, most notably in California and Hawaii. (Rubino: 2005) Based on the advertisement page of the magazines there are rates for Filipinos in the Philippines, in the United States, in Europe, and in the Middle East.

 4.0 Analysis

          Even if the Constitution provides that Filipino is the national language or national lingua franca, English enjoys the same status as Filipino and continues to dominate all aspects of communication. In government for instance, there is no legislated language to be used exclusively in any of the levels of government, e.g. national, provincial, and local. Thus, in the flow of communication all information, legislation, memoranda, circulars, executive orders, or laws coming from the national government are written in English. (See chart below) These are conveyed to the regional and provincial levels also through the English language. When they reach the municipal or city level and barangay level, the indigenous language or the regional lingua franca comes in.

In this research the source of data is the language being used in the local government. From the city towards the barangay level, the data is the actual meeting of the League of Barangays presided over by its head. This is the basis of the qualitative analysis. From the barangay level towards the constituents the basis is the survey by means of the questionnaire because it will be time-consuming and more difficult to gather data from the actual meetings of each barangay.

          4.1 Quantitative analysis

          As mentioned earlier the basis of the quantitative results is the survey conducted on the barangay captains. As shown in the following tables the results on Table 1 is based on the first question as to which language the village captains use when they preside over the barangay council meetings: Monolingual Ilokano, English or Tagalog. It has a follow up question that in case they tend to mix the languages which combination of three languages do they mix?

4.1.1 Language used in presiding meetings in the barangay council

          As mentioned earlier the source of data is from 56 out of 59 barangays. (From the three captains who were absent when the survey was conducted, one comes from an urban while two come from rural barangays). Among the 56 barangays, 36 are considered rural while 20 are urban. In the map these rural barangays are mostly found on the eastern side and they commonly have mountainous terrain.

          Of the 56 barangay captains 26 use monolingual Ilokano when presiding meetings while 30 use a mixture of two or all three languages. Of the 26 that use monolingual Ilokano 20 are from the rural areas while 6 are from urban. It would have been predictable or acceptable to have a mixture and no monolingual usage in the urban barangays but the reason for this is that the captains either do not have a college degree or simply finished high school or a vocational course. In fact, among the 20 captains from the urban, 11 do not have any college degree, meaning, if not monolingual, they would be using a trilingual mix of the languages. In these areas there are many non-native Ilokano speakers; but even among native Ilokano speakers who live in urban areas not all of them have reached college or have a higher level of education. In these areas there are so-called urban poor particularly in the coastal areas.

          From the 20 rural barangays it is predictable that the captains use monolingual Ilokano because based on their educational profile, most of them are not professionals or just finished high school or vocational, while some are old or above 60. To these people it is difficult to mix another language with Ilokano except in highly technical and borrowed words like computer, ballpen, visa, etc. However, it is also acceptable if the captains use not monolingual but mixed languages because even if they head a rural barangay, some of them are young and professional and would find it difficult to use monolingual Ilokano in their area.

          Among the mixture of languages, the trilingual combination is the highest, 18, followed by Ilokano-English, 8, Ilokano-Tagalog 3 and Tagalog-English 1. This means that English has greater influence on the speakers than Tagalog especially in oral communication especially if the speaker reached college. There are also old speakers who although did not have a college degree, are more fluent in English than Tagalog because they consider English as their second language rather than Tagalog. At present the role of Tagalog (Filipino) as lingua franca has gained strength and popularity not only because of the influence of mass media especially television but also the migration of non-Ilokano speakers to the city. As for the lone user of English-Tagalog combination and no Ilokano, the speaker is a non-native speaker of Ilokano

            4.1.2 Language used in written communication

          The results on Table 2 are based on the answers of the second to the fourth question which all pertain to the choice of language on the written form of communication. The second question is what language is used when writing resolutions, third question when recording the minutes of the meeting, and fourth, when they write letters to the mayor, or other higher officials. As can be seen from the results, almost all of them unanimously chose English; however, it is interesting to note that there are still some who still prefer Ilokano especially in recording the minutes of the meeting. As for the only one who chose Tagalog, there is an explanation written by the respondent at the back of the survey form that the secretary of their barangay council is a not a native speaker of Ilokano. What is meant by ‘all’ in the response is that there are times or instances when they use either one of the three languages. Nevertheless, unlike oral communication written communication is not extemporaneously conveyed. It can be edited and it is possible that it may not be the barangay captain or secretary who actually composes the written message.

          4.1.3 Language used in oral communication

          The next table pertains to the answers on the questions related to the language choice in oral communication. The first question is what language does the barangay captain commonly use when speaking to his peers like the councilmen as well as some of the higher officials like the mayor or the councilors and also heads of the various offices based in the city. The second question is what language they use when they commonly talk to their constituents within the barangay or village.

          The results show that when speaking to peers and superiors as well as constituents most of the barangay captains use monolingual Ilokano which clearly support the idea that it is the indigenous language that prevails in the local level. However, trilingual usage is not so far behind. There is only one who uses monolingual Tagalog and only one bilingual in English-Tagalog. Those who use monolingual English have the same number as those who use bilingual Ilokano-Tagalog.

          When speaking to their constituents, most of them use monolingual Ilokano, followed by bilingual Ilokano-Tagalog and trilingual usage. There is only one monolingual Tagalog identified as non native speaker, and only two monolingual English who head the barangays found in the town proper, the business districts of the city. Nobody used bilingual English-Tagalog or Ilokano-English. The fact that there are more bilinguals in Ilokano-Tagalog rather than Ilokano-English show the rising influence of the Tagalog-based national language on the speakers.

          4.2 Qualitative analysis

          In this part of the research the qualitative analysis describes the various speakers’ actual use of the languages in the regular meeting of the League of Barangay Captains of San Fernando City. This league is headed by the president of the league, Mr. Mario Ortega, who is also the barangay captain of Barangay IV, one of the barangays found in the city proper and one of the business districts of the city. Before the regular meeting started some city officials and guests were allowed to introduce and explain their respective official business and concerns.

          4.2.1 Discourse of the city accountant

          The first speaker was the City Accountant. She explained how the real property tax of the city is divided among the 59 barangays. Based on the transcribed data, it will be noted that the discourse is basically Ilokano both in grammar and lexicon. However, the presence of English lexicon shows the inadequacy of the native language to express technical terms related to accounting and finance. Furthermore, numbers are expressed in either English or Spanish rather than in Ilokano. The accountant’s discourse here is an example of bilingual Ilokano—English but predominantly Ilokano. In the discourse below, which is her opening statement, there are only six sentences where there is only one sentence in Ilokano, only one is in complete English, and the rest in bilingual Ilokano-English. The English lexicon comprises numbers, proper names and finance-related technical terms.

1.  Kasano aya ti pinagbingayanna data, Apo?

2.  One percent of the assessed value of the property goes to the SEF.

3.  Ania daydiay Special Education Fund?

4.  ‘Diay pondo a mapan elementary school, public schoolstayo.

5.  Ken pondo daytoy City School Boardtayo. Daydiay general fund ti siudad ken            barangay fund, two percent of the assessed value of the property.

6.  Dakdakkel ‘tattan ta adda baro a tax codetayo panggep ‘ti RPT. Okey.

            4.2.2 Discourse of the DILG Director

          The second speaker is the City Director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). She also explained the circular from the national DILG office about the registration of inhabitants for the year 2005 because it is again census year. She also announced which barangays have submitted, commended those that submitted early and reminded those who have not complied. The second part of her concerns was about the search for the Outstanding Barangay Peace and Order Committee. Below is an excerpt of the speech.

1.      Dinawatko, Apo, daytoy a gundaway nga ipakaammo kadakayo didiay tawen, tawen apo nga adda iti Search ti Outstanding Barangay Peace and Order Committee wenno BPOC.

2.      Daytoy, Apo, a komite a pinanguluan ni apo ti chairpersonna datoy,  Apo, ket ni Apo Kapitan, di ba?

3.      Ket adu, Apo, ti membersna kas pagarigan koma dagiti Sangguniang Barangay members especially the sangguniang barangay members nga in charge ti peace; the committee on peace and order and public safety.

4.      The chief iti barangay tanod ken nadumaduma pay a representative from the NGOs. Okey?

5.      Isu a daytoy apo Memorandum Circular Number 2005-84, August 23, 2005, daytoy apo maikkankayto amin ‘ti kopiana daytoy ket kunana daytoy, Apo, ket Recognition of the Outstanding Barangay Peace and Order Committee or BPOC at crime prevention.

6.      So baka diyo pay ammo, Apo, nga ti first week of September is designated as the Crime Prevention Week.

7.      Ket daytoy, Apo, idi last nga September 5 nag-conduct ti Napolcom ken DILG iti seminar para iti barangay peace and order committee.

8.      Ket kayatko koma nga i-congratulate ken madayawan, Apo, iti kapitan ti Catbangen, Kapitan Gonzales ta isuda, Apo, ti naghost ditoy a seminar.

          Like the city accountant, the DILG officer also used bilingual Ilokano-English. All the eight sentences in the discourse are mixtures of Ilokano and English. Again, the grammar and lexicon are basically Ilokano but the English parts are noticeably portions of the memorandum containing the guidelines in the search. The memorandum which came from the national office is of course written in English.

          4.2.3 Discourse of the City Legal Officer

          The third speaker was the city legal officer. In the following excerpt she explained the process of mediation and arbitration in the hearing of cases filed in the barangay. Despite the dominance of the Ilokano language in the discourse, one can notice the presence of many Tagalog words and phrases. Examine the discourse below:

1.  No ag-complaintda, Apo, oral or written, ket unless nga adda iti ordinansayo

      nga masapul nga agbayadda iti filing fee.

2.      This is an income generating program ti barangay.

3.      Mabalin met daytoy nga agkaroon met ti filing fee. Okey.

4.      No halimbawa, nag-file-dan, Apo, ti complaint, immediately, apanyo ikkan, abisuanyo didiay icom-complainda for the first hearing.

5.      And within the next working day summon the respondent to appear for mediation.

6.      Next working day, no for example, inikkanyo ti Sunday koma, no bigaten, intono bigaten nga agparang, ket agtrabtrabaho met daydiay tao, ikkanyo met bassit ti konsiderasionna.

7.      Ikkanyo met for example ti tallo nga aldaw a palugitna tapno makapagpaalam ‘diay trabahona, ania?

8.      Haan nga diay insigida nga kaagad.

9.      Kasano ngay nga, no haanna ngay nga tanggapen, ibatiyo latta daydiay summons, Apo, pagkatapos adda ti notification idiay summons nga refuse to accept, ngem ibatina latta didiay a summons.

10.  Haanna nga ibaga nga haanmi nga natanggap.

11.  Didiay ag-receive koma, Apo, ket adda ti nakemna.

12.  Haanyo nga iparpa-receive iti ubing nga seven years old, nineteen and above, okay.

13.  Ay hanko nga receive-en dayta. Ibatik, ibatik lang ngarud; pirmaanyo daytoy.

14.  Dina nga kayat nga pirmaan.

15.  O sige.

16.  Ibatik latta ngem adda ti kopiayo diay summons, ikabilyo, ‘refuse to receive’ o ‘refuse to sign’.

17.  Ngem idiay ti identified nga residencena. Okey?

In general, the lawyer’s discourse exemplifies trilingual usage. Most English words and phrases are excerpts from the memorandum, and are technical words related to law, e.g. s5, for the first hearing in s4, summons, complaint, notification, etc. But in the explanation one would notice the combination of the three languages in one sentence. Notice for example that affixes and pronouns in Ilokano are attached to both Tagalog and English words alike. Examples of Ilokano-Tagalog mixture in words are agkaroon in s3, palugitna in s7, tanggapen in s9. Examples of English words with Ilokano affixation and inflection are nag-file-dan and icom-complain-da in s4, ag-receive in s11, iparpa-receive in s12, receive-en /resiven/ in s13. Examples of Tagalog words are halimbawa, palugit, makapagpaalam, kaagad, pagkatapos, and natanggap. These examples support the quantitative evidence that many barangay officials mix the three languages in oral communication. 

          4.2.4 Example of interaction

          The fourth part is an example of interactive open forum on the part of the city lawyer referred to as (A) in the following excerpt, Mr. Ortega, the president of the league, referred to as (O) and a barangay captain (C) from the body. (For the whole text see the appendix).

A:       Wen. No ania ti desisionto ni, diay arbitrator, isu ti tanggapenmi nga desisión. Diyay mediation, adda laeng ti tiempo nga agsinnaokami. Mabigyan kami ng… neutral ground. Adda ti neutral ground. Diay arbitration,. Diay pana…ngay an ti Tagalogna…diay…

O:      Diay arbitration actually, ti kayatna a sawen daydiay, sika iti mangdesidir  idiay haanda mapagdesisionan a dua. No diay pagrirrirrianda koma, kastoy ti aramidenyo. Sika, diayka; sika, ditoyka. Kasdiay ti arbitration.

C:       Ngem napukaw diay conciliationen.

Since it is still the lawyer speaking as A, again the sentence is Ilokano in grammar with a mixture of Tagalog tanggapen and English technical words mediation, neutral ground and arbitration. Speaker O simply explained in straight Ilokano what arbitration means. The statements of the three speakers also corroborate the quantitative evidence of Ilokano-English combination more than Ilokano-Tagalog.

          4.2.5 Discourse of a guest businessman

          The fifth part contains the discourse of the fourth speaker in the meeting, a businessman and guest from Paranaque City in Metro Manila. His name is Jose Fineza, the president of Excelta Trading Corporation, the distributor in the Philippines of safety gadgets such as a nightstick with tear gas, and fire extinguisher. At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Fineza admitted that he does not understand Ilokano. Thus, in his explanation on the importance of the products he is selling, he used monolingual Tagalog as well as a bilingual English-Tagalog mixture. Below is an excerpt of his speech.

1.      Magandang umaga po.

2.      Pagpasensyahan po ninyo kahit hindi ko po masyadong naintindihan yong sinabi, pero nang mariniug kong tinawag ang aking pangalan, mukhang ako na yata yon, a.

3.      At may katukso pang presidente.

4.      Ay, siguro ako po yata yon.

5.      Kasi, I am a self-appointed president of our organization.

6.      In the first place, thank you very much, Mr. ABC President for giving me the opportunity to present to you this morning, and the shortest time possible, because I know that in all the barangays all over the country, over nine hundred something barangays are very much concerned about the welfare of their constituents.

7.       And if we are going to come to you and burden you further with ‘ipinagbibili po ito…bilhin nyo po ito…’ ‘kailangan ito ng mga constituents ninyo because we are products for safekeeping’, e ang mangyayari niyan, e, gustong-gusto nga po ng mga barangay.

8.      Ang problema naman, e, wala naman available na pondo yong ibang barangay.

9.      Although I know that in some cases some of the barangays are receiving quite a lot.

10.  Pero doon po sa mga ibang barangay na medyo maliit po ang nagiging share natin, e, siempre, we cannot do anything without the help of the NGOs within your respective barangays

In the above sentences, s1-4 are all in Tagalog, s8 in Tagalog but with an English word available, s5 in English except the first word, s6 is pure English and the rest of the sentences in bilingual Tagalog-English. This also proves that native speakers of Ilokano do comprehend and sometimes use Tagalog. Furthermore, Filipinos who may not know another Philippine language except Tagalog, may still be able to communicate with fellow Filipinos using the Tagalog/Filipino and/or English thus, proving that both Filipino and English can both be used as national lingua francas.

          4.2.6 The meeting proper presided by the ABC President, Mr. Mario Ortega

          The sixth and last part is the meeting proper led by the presiding officer. In this research only the first part of the agenda was transcribed. The issue was about the postponement of barangay elections which would have taken place the following month which is October. This is also a circular from the higher legislative bodies—the House of Representatives and Senate—which needs to be explained and implemented in the local government and eventually conveyed to the people by means of the barangay council. The memorandum was of course written in English but in the explanation the native language was used to supplement English.

1.  Okey. Adda, Apo, impaykabilko kadakayo a kastonay.

2.  Diak ammo no adda kadakayo daytoyen.

3.  Those who are not aware, diay…it is not yet a law, but datonay, isu ti

rimmuar idiay bicameral meetingen ta ti immuna, imbagak kadakayo nga adda

version iti Konggreso maipanggep idiay eleksion iti barangay officials nga

maidenden wenno  mai-postpone.

4.   And iti inkabilda idiay is 2008, May 8, 2008 koma.

5.  Idiay version met ti Senado iti ikabilda idiay, is October 2006.

6.  Isu iti version ti Senado.

7.  Now the Congress and the Senate has a bicameral meeting which came out last week with a compromise version of the two, which is 2007, October.

8.  Isu apo iti idasdasigda a pakaikuaan iti eleksiontayo.

9.  So didianay tatta, iti prosesona, for it to be law, they will take it up in the plenary session of Congress, dagidiay congressmen.

10. They will not, they will not discuss anymore.

11. It is either they will accept or reject.

12. Kadianay met idiay Senado they will present this in the plenary session of the Senate and the Senate will reject or accept that version of the bicameral meeting. Okey.

13. So naakseptar ti Kongresen Naakseptar ti Senadon.

14. Then it goes to the Executive Department  which is the President and she will sign it into law.

15. When it is signed into law then there is now a pure law wenno law nga ipos-postpone-na diay eleksiontayo tatta nga October supposed-to-be adda eleksiontayo.

16. If there is no law regarding that, but there is no election, daytoy apo is our reason why we still in office.

17. Didiay eleksiontayo ngamin, tatta nga October.

18. Ngem awan pay preparasionna, awan pay amin, ania?

19. But there is no law stating or repealing the law that stated that our election is October.

20. Ti adda pay laeng iprispresentarda pay laeng  didiay version iti bicameral idiay plenary ti Congress ken Senate.

21. When it is proved or accepted by both houses, then it goes to the President for it to be signed into law.

22. Ngem aginggana hanna pay na-signature-an hampay nga law.

23. So the law that will prevail is still the one that settle for, put into date the election of the barangay within October. Okey?

In the above excerpt bilingual Ilokano and English are used competitively and it is evident how code switching or code-mixing in Ilokano and English is done. Although code switching and code mixing are sociolinguistic processes they are not discussed in this research. The discourse simply describes that there are sentences that are in straight Ilokano such as s1, s2, s8, s13, s17 and s18.  Examples of straight English are s7, s10, s11, s14, s16 and s19. The rest of the sentences are mixtures of the two languages. There is mixing of phrases within the sentence as well as mixing of Ilokano affixation and inflection to English words.

5.0 Conclusion

          Based on the above results of the research what can we infer or conclude with regard to the status or use of the three languages in local governance? Furthermore, what is now the status of English and Filipino today vis-à-vis the national and global directions the country is undertaking? What would then be the role of Ilokano and other indigenous languages in the life of the Filipinos?

          5.1 English

          In the Philippines, English is recognized as a national and international lingua franca. It will continue to strongly influence decision-making to meet the needs of global communication. It may be elitist yet it is still the language of higher government. It dominates the print media and other forms of written communication; it is also the reservoir of government records. It will continue to be a second or third language to many Filipinos and perhaps a first language to the elite. Many if not all believe that knowledge and proficiency of this language is an asset and not a libility. In fact, this is the main reason why Filipinos have a bigger edge over other Asians in job placements overseas. But what is tragic about this situation is that the best minds leave our country because of economic frustrations believing that their talents and skills are better compensated outside the Philippines.

          At present there is still so much prestige attached to the English language. However, mastery and proficiency of this language is no longer considered a basis of a person’s level of intelligence which used to be the sentiment of anti-English Filipinos in the past decades. In the past, the people particularly in the rural areas have high regard for politicians who deliver their campaign speeches in English even if they barely understood what the politicans said. If before they were merely taken by the politicians’ glib and oratorical style, today they are more patronizing to those who speak to them in the native language.

          5.2 Filipino

          Filipino is the Tagalog-based national lingua franca. Despite competition with regional lingua francas in non-Tagalog speaking areas, Filipino will always dominate the broadcast media; thus, radio and television will continue to spread the national language. It is now understood by almost every Filipino nationwide. At present, especially among the young people, native speakers of Ilokano speak Filipino with each other. In a multi-ethnic country like the Philippines with more than a hundred indigenous languages, a national lingua franca is indeed necessary. A foreign language cannot take the role of a national language. Spanish was not able to do so despite more than three centuries of domination. And neither will English despite a century of colonialism and continuing American influence. Primarily, Filipino will always be a symbol of national identity and hopefully of national unity. It is now a very powerful communication force bridging and interconnecting all the isalands and the peoples of the archipelago.

(Ang wikang pambansa ay mananatiling isang pambansang linggwa frangka gaano man kalawak at kalakas ng rehiyonal na linggwa frangka. Hindi na matatawaran ang lawak ng impluwensya ng mass media sa pagpapalaganap ng wikang pambansa, lalung-lalo na ang radyo at telebisyon. Nauunawaan ng taong-bayan kung magtagalog ang mga di-Ilokano ngunit hindi katanggap-tanggap para sa kanila ang mga marunong mag-Ilokano ngunit patuloy na Tagalog ang gagamitin sa pakikipag-usap sa kanila. Mananatili ang paggalang sa mga di marunong ng Ilokano ngunit mas nakakatuwa kapag sinusubukan mong mag-ilokano kahit hindi mo ito katutubong wika. Bagamat mananatiling katutubong wika ng ilan ang Filipinong batay sa Tagalog, para sa mga Ilokano isa lamang itong pangalawang wika.

Sa kasalukuyan, lalung-lalo na sa kabataan, kahit na mismong mga katutubong ispiker ng Ilokano at iba pang katutubong wika, Filipino na ang gamit nila sa isa’isa; nagpapatunay lamang na laganap na ang pambansang linggwa frangka. Sa isang bansang katulad ng Pilipinas na may higit sa isangdaang katutubong wika ang pagkakaroon ng isang pambansang linggwa frangka ay totoong mahalaga at kailangan. Hindi maaaring gampanan ng isang dayuhang wika ang pagiging pambansang linggwa frangka. Hindi ito nakayanan ng wikang Kastila at hindi rin nakayanan ng wikang Ingles bagamat kinikilala pa rin ang Ingles  na wika sa ating mga eskwelahan at pamahalaan.) 

          5.3 Ilokano

Ti nakayanakan a pagsasao ti nabileg a lengguahe iti lokal a panagturay. As-asideg daytoy iti rikna dagiti tattao, nalaklakada a maawatan ken nabibiit nga ipakaammo ti aniaman a banag a pakaseknanda. Naparpartakda pay a madesisionan no anamunganda wenno saan ti aniaman a kayat nga ipatungpal dagiti agturay.

Agtalinaed a napigsa a puersa ti lengguahe iti lokal a panagturay no la ket ammo dagiti agturay ti pagsasao dagiti iturayanda. Ta no agusarda iti sabali a di maawatan, ad-adda a mayadayo ti rikna ken talek dagiti tattao kadagiti agturay kadakuada. Kanayonto nga adda panagduadua iti kinapasnekda nga agserbi agsipudta narigat a pagtalkan ti sao ti saan a kadutdotan.

Iti laksid ti kinapigsa ti Filipino ken Ingles iti biag dagiti Ilokano napigpigsa latta ti bileg ti Ilokano iti amin a paset ti biagda. Sibibiag daytoy a pagsasao, maisawang man wenno maisurat. Ti kinaagpaysona, adu ti diario ken magsasin nga Ilokano idiay Ilocos. Addan tallo a magasin nga internasional ti sirkulasionna, kas ti Rimat, Sirmata ken Bannawag. Ti Bannawag ti kadakkelan ti sirkulasionna ta malaksid iti Amianan a Luzon, makadanon daytoy iti intero a pagilian kadagiti lugar  a pagnanaedan ni Ilokano; kasta met iti ballasiw taaw a napanan dagiti Ilokano nga OFW kas iti Europa, Middle East ken dadduma pay a pagilian ti Asia, ken dagiti imigrante a napan idiay Amerika, Canada ken Australia.

No kasta ngarud, ti Ilokano ket maysa met a lengguahe ti kinabileg. No ti komunikasion ket maysa a lugar a pakakitaan iti dominasion wenno panangituray, ti lengguahe ti agserbi nga instrumento iti panagiggem—wenno panangkontrol—dagiti agturay ken instrumento met iti pannakibagay wenno panangsupiat—resistance—iti biang dagiti biktima ti turay.

Kuna ni Lumbera, maysa a propesor, a saan laeng a dagiti agturay ti rumbeng nga agdesision kadagiti linteg ken ordinansa. Masapul met nga iraman ti partisipasion dagiti umili kadagiti aniaman nga isyu, global man wenno lokal. Ken nalaklaka a makumbinsir dagiti umili no konsultaen ida dagiti liderda iti pagsasao a maawatanda. Innayon met ni Senador Recto a  dagiti lokal