Sa Aking Mga Kabata

This Tagalog poem was long assumed to have been written by Filipino national hero Jose Rizal
when he was eight years old, though that assumption is now widely doubted. It is translated into
English as ‘To My Fellow Youth.’

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig
Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
Sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.
Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan
Sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian,
At ang isang tao’y katulad, kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita

Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin

Sa Ingles, Kastila at salitang anghel,
Sapagka’t ang Poong maalam tumingin
Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati’y huwad din sa iba

Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
Na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
Ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Kapagka ang baya'y sadyáng umiibig

Sa kanyáng salitáng kaloob ng langit,
Sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka't ang salita'y isang kahatulan

Sa bayan, sa nayo't mga kaharián,
At ang isáng tao'y katulad, kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaán.
Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salitâ
Mahigit sa hayop at malansáng isdâ,
Kayâ ang marapat pagyamaning kusà
Na tulad sa ináng tunay na nagpalà.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin

Sa Inglés, Kastilà at salitang anghel,
Sapagka't ang Poong maalam tumingín
Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati'y huwad din sa iba

Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
Na kaya nawalá'y dinatnan ng sigwâ
Ang lunday sa lawà noóng dakong una.

To My Fellow Youth

If a nation's people certainly love

The gift of their language bestowed by heaven,
So too will they regain their pawned freedom
Like a bird who takes to the sky.

For language is a measure of worth

Of cities, nations, and kingdoms,
And each person alike deserves it,
As does any creation born free.

One who does not treasure his own language

is worse than a beast or a putrid fish,
Thus it should be nurtured intently,
As a mother nurtures her child.

The language Tagalog is like Latin,

Like English, Spanish, and the language of angels
For the Lord, in His wisdom
Bestowed it, He gave it to us.

Our language is like that of others,

With its own alphabet and its own characters,
But they vanished as if a sudden storm had come upon
A boat in a lake in an age long past.

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

"Sa Aking mga Kabata" (English: To My Fellow Youth) is a poem about the love of one's native
language written in Tagalog. It is widely attributed to the Filipino national hero José Rizal, who
supposedly wrote it in 1869 at the age of eight.[1] There is no evidence, however, to support
authorship by Rizal and several historians now believe it to be a hoax.[2] The actual author of the
poem is suspected to have been the poets Gabriel Beato Francisco or Herminigildo Cruz.[3]

The oldest known copy of the poem appears in Kun sino ang kumathâ ngg "Florante": kasaysayan
sa buhay ni Francisco Baltazar at pag-uulat nang kanyang karunungga't kadakilaan (1906) by
Hermenigildo Cruz. Note that the poem uses the Philippine Commonwealth-era Tagalog spelling
with a 'K'. If Rizal had indeed written it, it should have used the phonetically equivalent Spanish
'C'.
The poem was widely taught in Philippine schools to point out Rizal's precociousness and early
development of his nationalistic ideals.[1]

A passage of the poem often paraphrased as Ang hindì marunong magmahal sa sariling wikà,
masahol pa sa hayop at malansang isdâ (English: 'He that knows not to love his own language, is
worse than beasts and putrid fish') is widely quoted to promote the use of Tagalog among
Filipinos. It is encountered most frequently during the Buwan ng Wika ('Language Month'), a
commemoration of the establishment of the Filipino language as the national language of the
Philippines.[4][5]

Publication history Edit

No manuscript for Sa Aking Mga Kabatà written in Rizal's handwriting exists.[6] The poem was
first published in 1906, a decade after his death, in a book authored by the poet Hermenigildo
Cruz. Cruz claimed that he received the poem from another poet, Gabriel Beato Francisco, who in
turn received it in 1884 from an alleged close friend of Rizal, Saturnino Raselis. José Rizal,
however, has never mentioned anyone by the name of Saturnino Raselis.[2][7] The poem may
have actually been written by Cruz or Francisco.[2][3]

Pascual H. Poblete published a different account in his introduction to the 1909 translation Noli
Me Tangere; Novelang Wicang Castila Na Tinagalog Ni Pascual H. Poblete (note old Tagalog
spelling), he claims that the poem was well-known to Filipino poets during Rizal's childhood.[8]
This account was later repeated in Austin Coates' 1968 biography of Rizal, Rizal: Philippine
Nationalist and Martyr, who further added that Juan Luna had a role in preserving the poem. This
is not substantiated by any known evidence.[3]

The earliest known poems of Rizal in the National Historical Institute’s collection, Poesías Por
José Rizal, also date six years after the alleged writing date of Sa Aking Mga Kabatà. His own
account of the earliest awakening of his nationalistic views, identifies it as the year 1872 – the
year of the executions of the priests Mariano Gómez, José Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora.
[9] The poem is never mentioned by Rizal himself in all his voluminous writings, despite its
apparent significance in terms of his future ideals.[3]

Authenticity Edit
Historian Ambeth Ocampo, National Artist of the Philippines and writer Virgilio S. Almario and
others have debunked Rizal's traditional authorship of the poem based on the following:[2]

The poem uses the Tagalog word kalayaan (liberty/freedom). However, Rizal first encountered the
word at least by 1882, when he was 25 years old – 17 years after he supposedly wrote the poem.
Rizal first came across kalayaan, or as it was spelled, kalayahan, through a Tagalog translation by
Marcelo H. del Pilar of Rizal's own essay El Amor Patrio.[2][10]

The fluency and sophistication of the Tagalog used in the poem also do not match Rizal's grasp of
the language. Although Rizal's native tongue was Tagalog, his early education was all in Spanish.
In the oft-quoted anecdote of the moth and the flame from Rizal's memoir, the children's book he
and his mother were reading was entitled El Amigo de los Niños, and it was in Spanish.[11] He
would later lament his difficulties in expressing himself in Tagalog. In 1886, Rizal was in Leipzig
working on a Tagalog translation of Friedrich Schiller's William Tell, which he sent home to his
brother Paciano. In the accompanying letter, Rizal speaks of his difficulty finding an appropriate
Tagalog equivalent of Freiheit (freedom), settling on kalayahan. Rizal cited Del Pilar's translation
of his own essay as his source for kalayahan.[2][10] Rizal also attempted to write Makamisa (the
intended sequel to El filibusterismo) in Tagalog, only to give up after only ten pages and start
again in Spanish.[2][3]

The 8-year old Rizal's apparent familiarity with Latin and English is also questionable.[2][3] In his
memoir as a student in Manila, a year after the poem's supposed writing date, he admitted only
having 'a little' knowledge of Latin from lessons by a friend of his father.[12] Rizal also did not
study English until 1880, more than ten years after the poem was allegedly written. English was
not a prominent language in the Philippines in 1869 and its presence in the poem is believed to
betray later authorship during the American Commonwealth of the Philippines.[3]

The poem also makes use of the letters 'K' and 'W', whereas during Rizal's childhood, Tagalog
spelling was based on Spanish orthography where neither letters were used. The letters 'C' and 'U'
were used instead. (i.e., the poem would have been spelled "Sa Aquing Mañga Cabata") The shift
in Tagalog and later Filipino orthography from 'C' to 'K' and 'U' to 'W' were proposed by Rizal
himself as an adult, and was later made official in the early 20th century by the Philippine
government as per grammarian Lope K. Santos's proposal.[2]

Ang paggamit ng letrang ‘k’ at ng salitang ‘kalayaan’

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig

sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit.

sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit

katuad ng ibong na sa himpapawid.

(unang saknong ng Sa Aking Mga Kabata)

Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan

sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian

at ang isang tao’y katulad kabagay

ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan

(pangatlong saknong ng Sa Aking Mga Kabata)

Hindi letrang ‘k’ ang ginagamit noong 1869 kung saan 8 taong gulang pa lamang si Rizal, kundi
letrang ‘c’. Dagdag pa rito, ang kahulugan ng salitang ‘kalayaan’ ay natuklasan ni Rizal noong
1882 nang siya’y 21 taong gulang kung saan nagpapatulong siya kay Paciano ng pagsalin sa
Tagalog ng Wilhem Tell ngunit paano nangyaring nagawa niyang magamit ang salitang ito sa
kanyang tula nang siya’y bata pa lamang. Isa itong patunay na malamang hindi pa naisusulat ang
tulang Sa Aking Mga Kabata noong taong 1869.

Kung hindi si Rizal ang sumulat, ‘edi sino?

Ayon kay Ocampo, ang tulang Sa Aking Mga Kabata ay naipalimbag paglipas isang dekada
pagkatapos ng kamatayan ni Rizal. Sa librong Kunsino ang kumatha ng Florante: Kasaysayan ng
Buhay ni Francisco Baltazar at pag-uulat nang kanyang karununga’t kadakilaan ni Herminigildo
Cruz nakita ang pinakaunang kopya ng tulang ito. Ayon kay Herminigildo Cruz, ang tula ay
kanyang natanggap mula sa kanyang kaibigang makatang si Gabriel Beato Francisco. Ayon naman
raw kay Francisco ay nanggaling ang tula kay Saturnino Raselis na siyang matalik na kaibigan ni
Rizal ngunit hindi nabanggit ang pangalan ni Raselis sa kahit anumang kasulatan ni Rizal.

Mga Sanggunian
Ocampo, A. R. (2016). Rizal did not write “Sa aking mga Kabata”. Rizal Without the Overcoat, 5-
8.