JUST A THOUGHT: “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
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THAT BATANGUENO ACCENT: In 2017, ABS-CBN aired a teleserye whose main characters were cast as Batanguenos.
“A Love to Last” not only showcased the acting skills of lead stars Bea Alonzo and Enchong Dee (they played siblings) but also their proficiency in the language of Batangueños.
Enchong, who’s both Chinese and Bicolano, did it so well, putting on a seemingly natural Batangueño accent.
The rest of the cast tried hard to wear the much vaunted accent on their tongue with much affectation, OA. It was like they were putting up a freak show with accent on the ala eh.
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ALA EH: The Batangueño accent, however, is much more than the famous “ala eh” and the kapeng barako that we have come to be known for. It goes beyond substituting ga for ba, gab-i for gabi, laang for lamang, ganire for ganito.
The Batangueno accent comes with an attitude. It is both brave and bold, fierce and loyal to the native glossary of terms as the people of this southern Tagalog province are devoted to their homeland. Its nuances are hard to detect by a non-Batangueno.
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BEA HANDLED IT WELL: Bea, as the lead Batangueña in the series made a good pass at the accent. She probably learned much from co-actor Perla Bautista, a native Batanguena from San Juan.
Long before the town became famous for Laiya beach, Perla was the town’s most famous export as a big film star in the 1960s.
