Jose Villa Panganiban

Jose Villa Panganiban (June 12, 1903 – October 13, 1972) was a Filipino lexicographer, writer, translator, One of the first promoters and developers of the Philippine national language, he was best known for his work Diksyunaryo–Tesauro Ingles–Pilipino.

Panganiban founded The Varsitarian, the student publication of the University of Santo Tomas, in 1928.

He spent his early childhood in Paniqui, Tarlac. which he established in January 1928 as Varsitarian—which would be the oldest Catholic campus paper in the Philippines; thus he is called the "father of Varsitarian".

Career Academic career Panganiban began his teaching career in 1921, as a typewriting instructor at Batangas Business College. He also worked as English instructor at San Beda College in the 1930s, and as professorial lecturer at UE (University of the East). Tagalog was referred to as Pilipino by the Department of Education in 1959. the first, the English–Tagalog Vocabulary, was published in 1946. Both 1966 and 1972 publications effectively proved that about 30%–44% of the total of approximately 30,000 Filipino word roots being used were loanwords.

According to KWF, the contents of Panganiban's Pilipino dictionaries are highly distinct from Serrano-Laktaw's Diccionario and the American era dictionaries, citing the developments in 1938 and in 1959 involving Tagalog.

Works Panganiban's scholarly publications made him one of the country's known Tagalog lexicographers. Among his contributions were: Fundamental Tagalog English–Tagalog Vocabulary ;

On the other hand, oral traditional literature, particularly folklore and epics, began to be apparent through Panitikan ng Pilipinas (Literature of the Filipinos), edited by the Panganiban couple, mimeographed in 1952 along with a separate English translation, and published in 1954. In 1963, Panganiban published a survey on Philippine literature based on findings with his wife.

Some of his works were published serially in newspapers: in 1940, his Tagalog lessons in Taliba and The Commonwealth; and in 1953, his Talahuluganan and Tesaurong Tagalog in Liwayway and Varsitarian, respectively. In 1944, he likewise wrote stage plays, as well as dramas, language lessons, and an adaptation of Florante at Laura, for radio broadcasts.

He collaborated with Fr. Bazaco, in the latter's "Workbook in Spanish" in 1953.

Legacy The annual lecture, the UST Varsitarian–JVP Professorial Chair for Journalism, was established in 1999.

Love of Pilipino

In expressing his love for a national language, both orally and in writing, JVP became a controversial advocate of Pilipino as the "wikang pambansa". His detractors called him "Diktador ng Wika", "High Priest of National Language", “Emperador ng Wika”, “Czar ng Purismo” and “Frankenstein ng Purismo”. On the other hand, his allies called him “Bayani ng Wikang Pambansa”. JVP was neither a dictator nor a purist. He wrote in 1970:

“Multilingualism would be a solution to our linguistic problems. It would erase colonialism.. it would eliminate regionalism.. it would create nationalism. In the mutual contact of languages, foreign and local, the most useful form of national language will surface and will become the real PILIPINO.”

Unfortunately, it was not until months after his death that the 1973 Constitution established Pilipino as one of the two official languages of the Philippines – the other being English. In 1987, the Constitution stipulated that the National Assembly was to take steps toward the formation of a genuine national language to be called Filipino, which will incorporate elements from the various Philippine languages.