before i left tacloban for college, i didn't hear any tagalog words spoken in conversations. but starting maybe 4 years ago, many people here started sneaking in tagalog phrases or sentences in their manner of speaking or in their texting.

just this week, one person was speaking to me in tagalog. i didn't know whether to answer in tagalog or waray. but i replied in waray nevertheless.

i have nothing against that nor it is a big deal; but for some reason, i feel awkward speaking to warays in tagalog. in addition, i really don't know much about my dialect because my waray vocabulary has been feeble from the start, except for words used in everyday conversations. and i don't want that to be lost.

so it has been a relief to see bob abellanosa's exanimate face on tv at night. he is an abs-cbn local news anchor who newscasts in pure waray of which some terms i don't understand. but i don't mind.