I’ve been paying attention to reports of columnist Jessica Zafra’s collapse and recovery. The most recent news is that she is expecting to be discharged from hospital. What attracted my attention in the latest account, is how normal Taglish codeswitching has become in Filipino media, at least in quoted speech. I’ve read many Filipino newspapers from the 1960s through to the 1990s and never seen anything like this:

Pelicano said Zafra’s condition has gotten better since she was admitted to the MMC before dawn on May 27.

“She’s responding well, nakakausap na siya ng maayos, nagrerespond siya sa mga questions ng attending physicians,” Pelicano said.

I love it! It suggests to me that Taglish codeswitching is in the process of becoming an accepted part of written discourse. I expect the next logical development for Filipino news media will be the introduction of codeswitching in non-reported speech.