Wikang Katutubo: Tungo sa Isang Bansang Filipino is this year’s theme for the celebration of Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa held on August 22, 2019 at the Tarlac State University Gymnasium with Tarlac City Mayor Maria Cristina C. Angeles as guest speaker.
In her speech, Mayor Angeles talked about the importance and the richness of the Filipino language being one of the countries bearing more than one hundred languages – mostly from Indigenous people (IP).
“Kung kaya’t napakahalaga na maglaan tayo ng panahon upang kilalanin at ipagdiwang ang wikang Filipino dahil ang mga ito po ay bumubuo sa ating pagkatao,” Mayor Angeles said.
She was also the guest speaker of the Buwan ng Wika celebration last year.
The said event, organized by the Pamantasang Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (PSWF), was well attended by TSU officials led by University President Dr. Myrna Q. Mallari and by students and faculty members from the College of Teacher Education, College of Arts and Social Sciences, and College of Engineering and Technology.
President Mallari ensured that TSU will continue to strengthen the use of the Filipino language through teaching and research with the help of PSWF headed by Dr. Daisy T. Inalvez.
The program included performances from the TSU Performing Arts Dance Troupe who showcased folk dances such as Sayaw sa Bangko, Pasiguin, and Tinikling; Prof. Socrates Embesan of CTE and Prof. Gherold Benitez of CASS who serenaded the crowd with Filipino love songs; and TJ Amor, the winner of Pagbigkas ng Makabagong Tula (Spoken Poetry) from AB Communication, who delivered his piece entitled My Brother is Not a Pig which highlights the plight of the IP from the commercialization of their ancestral lands. [Jodie Andrea Pangilinan]
