KWF to push change to ‘Filipinas’

MANILA, Philippines - In line with the observance of National Language Month this August, officials of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) will be traveling to the provinces to promote their campaign to change the name of the country from “Pilipinas” to “Filipinas.”

Board members of the KWF will visit provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao to get the pulse of the masses regarding the proposed use of Filipinas.

KWF chairman and National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario said he has visited some provinces in the Bicol region, Central Luzon and Northern Luzon.

“I am now going from province to province to campaign for it. The opposition is coming from the Tagalog areas because they are the ones who are most affected, but based on our experience when we visited the Bicol region and some provinces outside Metro Manila, (the reception) is relatively okay,” Almario added.

He earlier explained that the KWF board resolution pushes for the gradual and non-compulsory use of Filipinas in order to promote the official and modern way of spelling the name of the country and to help the citizenry reflect on the history and progress of the nation.

Filipinos were said to have used Filipinas to refer to the country until the end of the 19th century. It was also used by national hero Jose Rizal in his works and Andres Bonifacio in his poem “Katapusang Hibik ng Filipinas.”

Almario said that the issue of reverting back to the use of Filipinas was only part of their advocacy, which is for the comprehensive reform covered by the “Ortograpiyang Pambansa” (National Orthography) which is a codification and refinement of existing rules on written Filipino.

He also noted that the letter “F” was being used by the different dialects such as Ilokano and even by the indigenous peoples such as the Ifugao and Maranao.