Babel

Aside from the National language that is Tagalog, our country has a variety of other dialects depending on what region of the country you are located. We are also known as the only country in the region where majority of the population can speak and understand English. Indeed, this has become somewhat a sensitive topic as there are, now, moves to legislate English as the main medium of instruction in schools. It is a move considered by the nationalists as “blasphemous and treasonous”, to say the least.

But there are still some languages that some of our countrymen seem to speak among themselves. It is a language borne of situations and circumstances. This was evident at Friday’s congressional hearing on state prosecutor John Resado’s alleged bribery to drop the now famous Alabang Boy’s case.

The highlighted speak transpired between John Resado and PDEA lawyer Alvaro Lazaro, where Resado drops a bombshell of sorts, where he turns the tables on the PDEA and accuses PDEA’s Lazaro of attempting to bribe him. Listening closely to the dialogue between the two, there is no direct mention of the word “bribe” or even the mention of money.  It’s a masterful play of words avoiding the more discernible translation which, according to the DOJ prosecutor, was the alleged attempt to bribe him into immediately dropping the controversial case. Words like “kabisado”, “areglo”, “bahala”, all alluding to facilitation, complicity, assurance, and eventually leading to an alleged bribery attempt. 

Imagine two officers of the law whose agencies supposedly do cooperative work, expected to be adept in legalese conversations especially regarding illegal activity speaking in inarticulate, evasive, under-the-table jargon only they understand. Prosecutor Resado’s apparent lack of proficiency in English, a real language, was also highlighted and attacked.

In the past year, we have heard it all — heard it in practically all investigations into anomalies this administration has gotten itself into. Remember Jun Lozada’s “bubukol ito”, “tong-pats”, “manok”, “pizza pie”? 

The language of innuendos. The language of corruption. A language some speak too fluently. A language even the builders of the Tower of Babel never imagined.