[lg policy] Philippines: Filipino language defenders ask SC to stop Ched Memo Order 20

Thu Apr 16 14:57:56 UTC 2015

Filipino language defenders ask SC to stop Ched Memo Order 20
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/>
 19 3 28 0

 [image: Tanggol Wika convener Dr. David Michael San Juan at the Supreme
Court (Photo by Pher Pasion/Pinoy Weekly)]
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/tanggol-wika-sc-filing-2-pher-pasion/>

Tanggol Wika convener Dr. David Michael San Juan at the Supreme Court
(Photo by Pher Pasion/Pinoy Weekly)

“We are losing our sense of being Filipino.”

*By DEE AYROSO*
*Bulatlat.com <http://bulatlat.com>*

MANILA – Defenders of the Filipino language today brought their fight to
the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the implementation of the new college
curriculum which removes Filipino language as a mandatory subject.

Citing violations of the Constitution and various laws, the petitioners
filed for a certiorari and prohibition with temporary restraining order to
stop the implementation of the “Revised General Education Curriculum,” also
known as the Commission on Higher Education Department (Ched) Memorandum
Order (CMO) 20.

The petition named President Benigno Aquino III and Ched chair Patricia
Licuanan as respondents.

The petition had 86 signatories, led by the Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol
ng Wika (Tanggol Wika) convener and National Artist for Literature
Bienvenido Lumbera, Act Teachers partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio, Kabataan
partylist Rep. Terry Ridon and Anakpawis partylist Rep. Fernando Hicap.

Among the signatories were Filipino professors and officials of at least 14
universities in Metro Manila and Luzon; various linguistic luminaries and
personalities from academic, linguist, literary, student and nationalist
groups.

Tanggol Wika conveners filed the petition at 4:54 p.m., minutes before the
court’s closing hours. They were supported by Filipino language teachers
and college students from the Pamantasan ng Pasig (PLP) and Philippine
Normal University (PNU) who gathered outside the SC gate. The petitioners’
lawyer is Greg Fabros.

*Violations*

The petition cites five violations of the Constitution, including
provisions on the national language, Philippine culture, nationalist
education, and labor policy.

In 2013, Ched issued the CMO 20 which abolishes the Filipino language,
literature, Philippine government and Constitution as mandatory general
education subjects in college.

The curriculum changes were to be made as part of the government’s K to 12
program, and will be effective in 2018 or earlier, in time when the first
batch of K to 12 graduates enter college.

In a statement, Tanggol Wika said CMO 20 “disregards the pro-national
language spirit of the framers of the Constitution, the Constitution’s
emphasis on nationalism and cultural awareness as core values of Philippine
education, and the Constitution’s pro-labor provisions that gives workers –
including teachers and workers in the education sector – the right to
participate in policy-making activities.”

Tanggol Wika said that CMO 20 also violates various laws, such as the
Education Act of 1982, the Organic Act of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
(Commission on the Filipino Language or KWF), and the Organic Act of the
National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

The petitioners said that the Ched also “violated the law when it usurped
one of the KWF’s functions – which is to formulate language policy.”
[image: R to L: PNU students Francheska Santuico and Andrea Yasoña, UST
Prof. Jonathan Geronimo, along with academicians, linguists and poets who
went to the Supreme Court to petition CMO 20. (Photo by D. Ayroso/Bulatlat)]
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/jonathan-andrea-and-francheska/>

R to L: PNU students Francheska Santuico and Andrea Yasoña, UST Prof.
Jonathan Geronimo, along with academicians, linguists and poets who went to
the Supreme Court to petition CMO 20. (Photo by D. Ayroso/Bulatlat)

*‘Cultural euthanasia’*

Professor Jonathan Geronimo, a faculty of the Filipino department at the
University of Sto. Tomas (UST) and a Tanggol Wika convener, said that the
removal of the Filipino subjects “also removes the students’ access to
deeper disciplines which develops the national consciousness.”

Geronimo said Tanggol Wika has received reports that some schools are
already abolishing their Filipino departments.

“They’ve made a ‘multidisciplinary design,’ supposedly to support Filipino.
But how can we have discipline and intellectualization when there is no
more department or program?”

Without a department or program, nobody will be interested to take up
Filipino, let alone be experts in the language, he said.

“Less students are taking up Filipino as a major. It’s cultural
euthanasia,” he said.

*Diminishing*

Andrea Jean Yasoña, 19, a fourth year Filipino major at the PNU, thinks
that many students in high school under the K to 12 are not learning enough
in their Filipino subject, as shown by low scores in their National
Achievement Test. Filipino class period in some schools has also been
shortened from one hour to only 40 minutes daily, as reported by her
brother, an incoming Grade 10 student.

Yasoña, who chairs the group Kapisanang Diwa at Panitik (Kadipan), said
that the lack of Filipino education also widens the generation gap between
youths and their elders. “At times, my brother doesn’t get what our
grandmother is saying,” she said.

The PNU, formerly Philippine Normal College, was one of the bastions of
colonial education, Yasoña said, as it trained teachers in the American
era. Although nationalistic fervor had been revived in the school in the
past decades, this may not last long, in her school and elsewhere.

“The Filipino language is one of the fuels of nationalism,” Yasoña said.
“How can we instill nationalism if we’re going to remove Filipino as a
medium?”

Francheska Trixia Santuico, an incoming second year Values major in PNU,
said Filipino in their GE subjects has already been cut down to only three
units, from the six required of the older batches. She lamented that her
batch was subjected to the Outcome-based Transition Education Curriculum
(Obtec) which was to be implemented for the next three years, as part of
the K to 12 program.

*Slow death*

Filipino teachers in high school who support Tanggol Wika said they could
only do so much to help their students speak Filipino, let alone
“intellectualize” the class discussion.

Via delos Reyes, 21, a Grade 8 Filipino teacher at the Pasig City Science
High School (PCSHS), said many students have a limited Filipino vocabulary,
because they came from “English only” schools, where they were forced to
communicate only in English.

Delos Reyes decried that many parents are proud to have their children
speak English, oblivious that they are losing grasp of the Filipino
language and identity.

“If they’re going to remove Filipino in college, what would become of these
students?” said Delos Reyes.

“How will they fight for their Filipino identity, when the Filipino
language is being slowly killed?” she said. “We are losing our sense of
being Filipino.”

Jay-Ann Bonan, a Filipino high school teacher in between jobs, said she
sees the need to support the campaign against CMO 20.

“It’s hard to teach without taking a stand,” she said. “You can’t teach
Filipino and stand in front of students, without doing anything, as the
language gets attacked.”

*Support*

Tanggol Wika had proposed to Ched that given the curriculum revision, it
should still retain of the use of Filipino as a subject, six units of
Filipino as general education subjects, and nine units of Filipino for
education and humanities courses.

Both the KWF and the National Committee on Language on Translation (NCLT)
under NCCA had issued resolutions supporting Tanggol Wika’s proposal, said
the group.

http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/

In November last year
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2014/11/28/traitor-to-the-national-language/>,
Ched said that it is not changing the provisions in the memo. [image:
(http://bulatlat.com)] <http://bulatlat.com>
   ARTICLE TOOLS
[image: Printer-Friendly Version]
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/print/>
 Printer-Friendly Version
<http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/print/>

  19 3 28 0
 TAGS
cmo 20 <http://bulatlat.com/main/tag/cmo-20/>, Tanggol Wika
<http://bulatlat.com/main/tag/tanggol-wika/>
 CATEGORIES
 * Latest Posts <http://bulatlat.com/main/category/blog/>nameEducation
<http://bulatlat.com/main/category/education/>nameTop Stories
<http://bulatlat.com/main/category/top-story/>
 REPRINT
Feel free to reprint, repost or republish this material. (Read Bulatlat's
syndication policy.)
<http://www.bulatlat.com/main/bulatlats-syndication-policy/>
 Recommended

   -

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

  - See more at:
http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/04/15/filipino-language-defenders-ask-sc-to-stop-ched-memo-order-20/#sthash.lFb7vIm2.dpuf

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150416/12339ec6/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list