CLAIM: There is a whale of a difference between “nananalangin” and “nagdarasal” which merited an amendment to the Panatang Makabayan
RATING: FALSE
THE FACTS: The Department of Education (DepEd) altered the “Panatang Makabayan” by changing the “nagdarasal” to “nananalangin.” According to DepEd Order 004 series of 2023, signed by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, various experts and linguists were consulted concerning this amendment.
“The consensus is that ‘nananalangin,’ as compared to ‘nagdarasal’ is more encompassing, inclusive, and spiritual. In a language scan conducted, ‘galanin’ or ‘panalangin’ (prayer) is more commonly used across dialects. Even with our IP (indigenous people) communities, ‘dalangin’ is being used” the DepEd spokesman was quoted as saying.
But was it enough to change the age-old pledge?
National Artist for Literature Rio Alma says, “No,” and came out with a long argument that “nagdarasal” and “nananalangin” have no distinct difference.
In his essay in Filipino Ngayon he expounded on the non-difference of the two.
In Filipino, Rio Alma said that without hesitation, he found no difference between “dasal” and “dalangin.” He also cited Paganiban’s thesaurus which found no major difference between the two words.
Rio Alma said that the minor difference is that “dalangin” is “taal na Tagalog” while “dasal” is a corruption of the Spanish “rezar.” He said that if we want a pure Filipino word, the pangadyi in Cebuano and Leyte-Samarnon is better.
He said that this clarification will in no way try to retract the DepEd order.
WHY WE FACT-CHECKED THIS: Instead of spending millions of pesos, correcting Panatang Makabayan in all of the books and documents just to imprint your name on it, why not use it to build schools and buy books and ask the military not to target teachers teaching rural folks.
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