Filipino language as the Official Philippine Language

The Filipino language is considered as the official language of the Philippines and this was made official in 1987 thru the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Before the adoption of this language in 1987, a number of efforts have been made in order to find what could be the best language for the country. The government then made sure that they have the right language for the archipelago and the government then made it possible by checking and considering all the necessary factors.

The selection and the research for the proper language of the country started on November 13, 1936. The move to research the official language of the Philippines was headed by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino or the Commission on the Filipino Language. This is the government agency that regulates the language. Their efforts and the moves to identify the language were driven by the motivation to standardize and to intellectualize the language that will be based on the lingua franca.

In the government agency's search for the official language, they focused and zeroed-in on a number of factors:

. Tagalog is the widely spoken language and this was also considered as the most understood in many parts of the archipelago

. The language is not sub-divided into many separate languages

. The literary tradition of the language is the most richest amongst the many languages in the country and the literary tradition of the language is the most developed and the most extensive

. The language has always been the language of Manila and Manila is considered as the political and the economic capital of the country

. And finally, the language is the language used in the Revolution and in the Katipunan. And these are two important elements in the history of the country.

That year was just the start of the development of the language and this was followed by many researches and laws. The following are the important milestones in the development of the language of the country:

. By 1959, the language was known as 'Pilipino' and this move was made to disassociate the language from the Tagalog ethnic group.

. In the 1973 Constitution, a separate national language for the country was forwarded and this was designed to replace the 'Pilipino' that was enacted in 1959. This was the time when the language called 'Filipino'. According to Article XV, Section 3(2) of the 1973 Philippine Constitution, the National Assembly should take the steps towards the development and the formation of a national language for the country that will be known as the 'Filipino'.

. The 1987 Constitution provided many provisions for the language that will be known as Filipino. The pertinent section in the Constitution did not mention that the basis for the Filipino is the Tagalog language. The Article XIV Section 7 of the Constitution further adds that the government should take the right steps in order to improve and to sustain the use of the Filipino language as the official medium of communication in the government and the pertinent provision also calls for the use of the language to be used in the country's educational system. The Filipino language will serve as the official language in the educational systems in the many regions of the country and the regional languages of the concerned regions will serve as the auxiliary official languages.

. By 1991, a government agency was created in order to promote the research and the use of the Filipino language and other regional dialects and languages. The concerned government agency is the Commission on the Filipino Language and its head directly reports to the President. The basis for the office is the Republic Act number 7104 which was approved on August 14.

. By May 13, 1992, this institution issued the resolution that specified the Filipino as the indigenous written and the spoken language of Metropolitan Manila and this was made the official language of major urban centers in the country.

The Filipino language is considered as an Austronesian language and this is also considered as the standardized version of the Tagalog language. The Tagalog language is used in some Luzon provinces. The Filipino language is the main language in Metropolitan Manila and considered to be the secondary language for other Filipinos in other regions.