San Francisco, California – Not all Filipinos are happy with the announcement by Mayor Ed Lee that Tagalog has been added to the shortlist of languages that will be included in official documents in the city and country of San Francisco. The other “official languages” are English, Spanish and Chinese. San Francisco informational brochures and application forms for various services are available in these official languages.
A coalition of Ilocano-speaking Filipinos protested yesterday’s announcement, claiming that there are more Ilocano-speaking Filipinos than there are Tagalog speakers in San Francisco. Ilocano is the predominant dialect in many provinces of the Northern Luzon region of the Philippines. The late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. was Ilocano.
Filipinos living in Hawaii expressed their full support for the protest. Ilocanos are the predominant Filipino residents of Hawaii. Many public signage in Hawaii are written in Ilocano.
The San Francisco issue has become more controversial as a group of Kapampangan-speaking Filipinos joined in the protest demanding that their dialect be included as well as an official language. Kapampangan is the dialect spoken in a huge province of Northern Luzon, Pampanga, where former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her late father, Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal, hail from.
Mayor Ed Lee has not returned calls for comment from The Adobo Chronicles.
The Adobo Chronicles 
Marunong pala naman kayo mag-English lahat, eh. So English na lang basahin nyo, total nag-abroad na rin kayo sa States, speak their language then.
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Excuse me? Ilocanos are the pioneers of Filipino Americans. Ilocanos constitute the majority of FilAms, so they have the right to protest. I’m half Ilocano half Tagalog, but most certainly I would consider myself more Ilocano due to the fact that Ilocanos are far better than most Tagalogs. SorrynoSorry. Just saying.
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Dialects are like subcategories of major languages – still mutually intelligible to each other, but with some minor [dialectal] differences that only certain regions would understand. Ilokano, Tagalog, Cebuano, Kapampangan, etc. are incomprehensible to each other, thus considered as major languages.
Any language chosen to be a “national language” is merely a political decision. Had the seat of power been in a nonTagalog-speaking region, it is most likely that that region’s language be the chosen one. Being that the Philippines is home to a diversity of languages/ethnolinguistic groups, there will always be a sense of biased tribalism when another set of ideas are IMPOSED on another.
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I am Cebuano but I support Tagalog’s selection as an official language of SF. It is the Philippines’ National language for heaven’s sake. Enough of the regionalistic mentality. We should unite as a nation. Pasalamat nag tayo at napali ang Pilipinas
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I agree with @Bisaya. Don’t be regionalistic!! I’m Ilokano but let’s unite under our official national Filipino language which is Tagalog! We should be thankful for this milestone ordinance!
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uh…it doesnt matter if there are more ilokano speakers the thing is Filipino which is in Tagalog is still our NATIONAL LANGUAGE so it may follow that wherever we are it would still be the Language to be used in other countries…
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hello Kapampangan and Ilokano is Language of the Republic of the Philippines not only a Dialect ??
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Two dialects?? You must not know the official language of the Philippines!
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Dialect? Kapampangan? and Ilokano? hello Kapampangan and Ilokano is Language of the Republic of the Philippines not only a Dialect
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Interesting post LOL
But for correction, Tagalog, Ilokano and Kapampangan are languages, not dialects
Here’s additional reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines
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