Around 8 or 9 years ago, I bought Rodolfe Cabonce’s English-Cebuano dictionary. At that time, “nagtuon ko og Cebuano” because I was curious about one of our country’s major languages (if you say “dialect,” you’re wrong and should be punched in the face). It was a lot of fun because it was different enough to be interesting but similar enough that I didn’t have to learn a whole new set of grammatical constructs.
It taught me that there wasn’t anything inherently superior about my mother tongue, Tagalog, and helped me appreciate the different accents with which we speak it around the country.
So this brouhaha about our bar exams allegedly lowering their standards just because the top 10 didn’t come from Luzon reflects a disturbing attitude of entitlement, insecurity, and ignorance that should no longer exist in this day and age. It’s been more than 100 years since we left Hispanic rule but their divide and conquer tactics still linger.
Can we stop this idiocy, fellow Manileños and Luzonistas? Maybe just accept that some people did well and it just so happened they lived South of us? Let’s not be complacent and entitled just because we’re in the capital.