It is not everyday that we find someone who is adept in Chavacano and is concerned about the future of the language—and has done something about it. Not that Chavacano will fall into disuse, or that it will become extinct one day. Few speakers of the language will think that way. However, just because Chavacano is with us today is not enough assurance that we will understand the tongue when we visit it another day.
I have met enough Chavacanos in Zamboanga and elsewhere out of town and I noted their common observation that words from other dialects-languages are slowly creeping into the tongue. This is true. Thus it is safe to say that the Chavacano of five decades or a century ago is not the Chavacano we speak today. This “invasion,” if we want to use the term, is simply because the younger generation , as is common with the young, wants to be abreast with the world. The typical Zamboangueño or Chavacano is multilingual, speaking no less that three or more dialects/languages on his own. Thus he may mix the words that are facile to his tongue with the Chavacano of his birth. Nothing wrong with this if it serves his needs to communicate. In fact, this was the principle that ensured its birth and growth– the need of the Spaniards to communicate with the colonized.
I have spent quite a time with the author of this book. I am glad that he has decided to do...what... if I had the time, I should have done myself.
Antonio R. Enriquez, Multi- Awarded Carlos Palanca Literature Awardee, Novelist