Filipino is the principal official language of the Philippines alongside English.
The Philippine Constitution recognizes Filipino and English as the official languages. Filipino is based primarily on Tagalog, the language historically associated with Manila and surrounding areas, but it is intended to develop through contributions from other Philippine languages and from languages used in the country.
Tagalog and Filipino are closely related, and many people use the names interchangeably in casual conversation. Officially, however, Filipino is the standardized national language, while Tagalog refers to the broader regional language and its traditional speech communities.
The Philippines has more than 170 living languages, including Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, and Waray. English remains important in government, higher education, business, and law. Filipino is written mainly with the Latin alphabet, although older Philippine writing traditions included scripts such as Baybayin.