Tagalog

• Location: Concentrated in S Luzon
• Languages: Tagalog
• Population: 16,054,430 (1990)

The largest ethnic group in the Philippines, the Tagalog are concentrated about metropolitan Manila and represent the major population component of the Luzon proviinces of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija, to name just a few. Tagalog is now the official national language, and is now understood and spoken in most major parts of the country. Their physical situation astride the major Spanish metropolis has benefited the Tagalog a great deal; they now have a large stake in most aspects of industry and commerce, and have benefited more than most groups from Westernization. A large variety of agricultural production, forestry, ranching and herding, and industrial production are engaged in, as well as international marketing, politics and foreign relations. Tagalog kinship, as with virtually all Filipinos, is figured bilaterally; inheritance essentially follows this pattern, although in practice it tends to be more cognatic. In urban areas and where large properties are concerned there is a tendency for the lineal distribution of wealth and property in the manner of corporations.