Do Zamboangueños Say 'Hola'?

I watched a couple of vlogs wherein a foreigner asked someone who spoke Chabacano what 'hello' was in their language. Without missing a beat, they replied hola.

When I was growing up, I remember hearing hola, Zamboanga being popularized during the annual Zamboanga Hermosa festivals. The street dance performers during these festivals would shout hola, Zamboanga repeatedly while dancing. I'm not sure if all of them (or any of them) knew what hola meant.

The thing about the greeting 'hello' is that it is a very foreign concept. This website explains that since there's no direct equivalent of the English word hello in Tagalog or Filipino they greet each other with kumusta (which is of course literally 'how are you?'). Although, I will tell you that almost 100% of the time, we use 'hello' and 'hi' when speaking Tagalog. The writer of that article probably just needed a word that wasn't the same as 'hello' and 'hi'. In Indonesia, I noticed that they do not have a direct equivalent of hello either so they use the same words (hello and hi) but spelled as halo and hai.

What is important to remember is that 'hello' is simply a manner of greeting someone. So when somebody asks you how to say 'hello' in your language, you don't necessarily have to rack your brain and make something up. Just think of how you greet other people in your culture. Even good morning, good afternoon, and good evening can be a form of saying hello.

In the daily briefings of the local government of Zamboanga city (because daily briefings have now become a norm), I noticed that some government officials have started to use the word hola. Hola, buenas tardes, I often hear them greet each other before reading their lengthy reports. The newest Chabacano dictionary published by the city hall which turns to Spanish as a last resort also translates 'hello' as hola. Santos' and Camins' Chabacano dictionaries however, do not have this word.

Meanwhile, GMA just announced in a Facebook video that they will be launching their regional TV station in August wherein they made use of the word ola (hola).

So is this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? Will more government officials use it in formal speeches? Will news anchors start using it? Are we seeing the usage of hola as a greeting in Zamboanga city becoming mainstream?  We definitely see signs of that happening but in the meantime, you probably won't see people greeting each other out on the street with hola.