Ang Aking Talumpati Para sa Buwan ng Wika Agosto 29, 2025

No one believes this but deep down I’m pretty shy.

Not even my wife.

What no one really knows is that I’m great at controlling my fight or flight response when faced with the prospect of speaking to people.

But I just did it recently.

Not just to one person.

Not just to 3 people.

Ten?

No, more than a hundred.

And it was in Tagalog.

Talk about adding another challenge over a existing one.

I can talk to a small group in a meeting or address a crowd if its dark and I don’t see them. But not like this. Not in broad daylight where I can’t hide behind anything.

Give me a guitar any day and a large crowd and I’m ok.

But make me go up to a podium and give a speech? Better get ready to pick me up if I faint…

Thankfully, I managed to do it without a hitch.

How I Got the Privilege to Speak in Front of My Son’s School

My son’s teacher approached me and asked me if I would be so kind as to speak in fron of the teachers, children and parents during the culmination of the Buwan ng Wika on August 29, 2025.

I don’t know how many parents she’d already approached and I didn’t want to be one more rejection so I immediately said “Yes” and didn’t really think about it until we got home from school.

Upon checking my messages, I also saw that the President of the PTA asked me to do it also. So, I said “Yes”

That’s it. Not much fanfare.

Just a simple request.

And me accepting it.

That was the start of a very hard week for me.

Rediscovering Tagalog and the Making of an Epic Speech

I’m a bad Filipino.

Instead of using Tagalog or Bisaya, I prefer speaking in English.

My son also prefers speaking in English although we’ve been slowly transitioning him to Tagalog and Bisaya based on my cousin’s advice.

Anyway, what made me anxious about the speech I was going to give was that I had to say it all in Tagalog because well… Buwan ng Wika.

So I created the outline of what I was going to say in my speech during my work lunch at 2AM. I knew I had to include a short introduction covering my apprehension, a joke to lighten up the serious tone, and some reference to Jose Rizal.

Nice.

I was able to do that and then no words came after the outline.

What I basically had on paper was this:

Magandang araw sa inyong lahat.

Ako po si…

• pause

joke

• let them laugh.

Tell them you’re happy to do this but apprehensive because it’s a huge undertaking.

Something, something.

More something, something.

Jokey, jokey

Tell them about that time that you were Mr. Ginoong Linggo ng Wika back in the Seminary.

Showcase your awesome Bisaya and Waray skills.

Something something.

Ang di marunong lumingon sa sariling wika something, something… masahol pa sa hayop or smelly fish.

Maraming salamat.

Mabuhay? – uhhh too corny?

Yeah, I copied and pasted that from my old document.

I basically had nothing. A skeleton of a speech and some jokes.

I put it off for after work.

Maybe the words would come to me later.

Hopefully.

Maybe Writing with Pen and Paper Will Help

I usually employ the use of pen and paper to flesh out some ideas so I did that and had better results.

I decided to minimize the jokes.

Do some searches on Google to make sure my references were correct and also use some translation tools to find the appropriate Tagalog words for the English terms I was using.

I also did a ton of watching videos on YouTube where people gave speeches in Tagalog.

That helped.

And using pen and paper also helped make the ideas seem more tangible.

I initially had a speech about 3 pages long but I decided it was too “fluffy”.

So I cut out some jokes leaving only one and removed references to the past where Buwan ng Wika was only Linggo ng Wika and FVR’s involvement.

Let’s just say I cut out a lot of stuff.

And then I spent the rest of the days leading up to the event revisiting my speech, tweaking it here and there, removing, adding stuff… up until a few minutes before I was to go up the podium, I was still editing.

I spent the entire time during that event in the back practicing my speech over and over making sure I knew how to present it well, making sure I didn’t need to glance at my notes, or stumble while saying my lines…

Ugh… I really hate giving speeches.

I finally decided to ease up, stop editing, relax a bit and just let things happen.

The Actual Speech

Okay,so show, don’t tell, right?

Okay, here I am giving out my speech.

Here’s A Copy of My Speech:

Magandang araw sa inyong lahat.

Noong ako po ay naatasang magbigay ng closing remarks para sa Buwan ng Wika, aaminin ko po na magkahalong galak at kaba ang nadarama ko.

Natuwa ako na muli ko’ng mabalikan ang magsalita ng ating wikang Pilipino at kaba na hindi ko maisasalaysay ang ibig kong ipaabot dahil sobrang nahaluan na ng English ang mga buhay natin na minsan di na natin nagagamit ang sariling wika kahit man lang sa ating mga pag-iisip.

Kaya pagpaumanhin niyo po itong munting salaysay na ibibigay ko na inabot ng isang linggo upang maisulat ko. Ilang ulit ko din itong isinulat, binura, dinagdagan, binawasan, inulit, hanggang umabot sa huling bersiyon niya. 

Hanggang alas-6 ng umaga ay patuloy pa rin ang pag-edit ko nito. 

Aabutin lang naman po ng isang oras ang talumpati ko’ng ito.

Binibiro ko lang po kayo. Alam kong uwing uwi na tayong lahat kaya Minabuti ko po na maikli lang ito.

Isang malaking karangalan ito para sa akin dahil naniniwala akong ang mga ganitong pagtitipon ay may positibong epekto, lalo na sa mga kabataan. 

Sa pamamagitan ng mga pagtitipong tulad nito, natututo silang mahalin ang sariling wika at maranasan ito sa mas makulay at masayang paraan.

Sa ganito rin po’ng paraan ako natutong mas lalong mahalin ang sariling wika natin nu’ng ako ay bata pa. 

Labis po ang pasasalamt ko sa mga guro ko’ng hindi napagod sa kakaturo sa amin nang kahalagahan ng wikang Pilipino. 

Ngayong buwan, ipinagdiriwang natin ang Buwan ng Wika bilang pagkilala at pagbibigay-halaga sa ating sariling wika—ang Wikang Filipino. 

Ang wika ay hindi lamang simpleng paraan ng pakikipag-usap. Ito ang nagbubuklod sa atin bilang isang bansa, nagsisilbing tulay ng ating kultura, kasaysayan, at pagkakakilanlan.

Sa pamamagitan ng ating wika, naipapahayag natin ang ating damdamin, pangarap, at mga saloobin. 

Ngunit sa panahon ngayon, kung saan mabilis ang pag-usbong ng teknolohiya at paggamit ng mga banyagang wika, dahil sa trabaho o dahil sa yun ang ating karanasan sa araw-araw, may panganib na mabawasan ang pagpapahalaga natin sa ating sariling wika.

Kung hindi natin pangalagaan ito, ay baka tuluyan na’ng makalimutan natin ang ating sariling wika.

Kaya’t mahalaga na patuloy natin itong gamitin at pagyamanin. Sa paaralan, sa tahanan, at sa ating araw-araw na buhay, sikapin nating itaguyod ang ating wika. 

Tandaan natin na kung mawawala ang ating wika, mawawala rin ang isang malaking bahagi ng ating pagka-Pilipino.

Kaya’t ang pagmamahal at pagpapanatili sa Wikang Filipino ay hindi lamang tungkulin, kundi isang karangalan. Ipagmalaki natin ito, dahil sa bawat salitang ating binibigkas ay naroroon ang ating pagkakaisa at pag-ibig sa bayan.

Ika nga ni Gat Jose Rizal “Ang hindi marunong magmahal ng sariling wika, masahol pa sa hayop o malansang isda.

Ituloy natin ang pagpamalas ng ganda ng wikang Pilipino. Mabutihin nating gamitin ito sa ating araw-araw na buhay, sa sariling mga tahanan natin, sa paaralan o sa trabaho.

At sa mga puso’t isipan natin, wag kalimutan “O kay ganda ng wikang Pilipino.”

Maraming salamat at mabuhay ang Wikang Pilipino!

Proud Dad Moments

Oh and here’s one other thing that I’m proud of. Maybe I’m even prouder about this over my ability to give a speech.

My son won the Best Costume for that day. Well for his age group.

The costume was provided by his Ninong and Ninang so we didn’t have to pay for it. But we do have to give it back because they just let us borrow it.

The reason why he won is that he stood out from all the rest who were wearing barings and the usual Filipino costume kids wear for that day. I understand that most parents make their kids wear those costumes out of convenience and they too should have the opportunity to win but it just so happened that my son was lucky that day.

And here’s another thing, I didn’t really have to borrow it from my cousin. It just came up in our conversation that we still had to look for a costume for Lyle. He perked up when he heard that and generously offered the costume that his son wore when he was Lyle’s age.

That’s a genuine Mindanaoan Filipino costume that they had to purchase from the source and not just buy from a department store.

It’s a legit piece of Filipino culture and heritage and that’s why it deserved to win.

Thank God Lyle was feeling cooperative that day and wore the costume without any fuss.

That’s it for now.

Bye!