CURRENT POLICIES GOVERNING THE USE OF LANGUAGE IN PHILIPPINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS By Dr. Yolanda S. Quijano, Director IV and Mrs. Ofelia H. Eustaquio, Education Program Specialist II I. INTRODUCTION The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago made up of 7,107 islands, located in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, about 800 km off the Southeast Asian mainland. The island group is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the south by the Celebes Sea and on the west and north by the South China Sea. It has a land area of 298,170 sq. km. terrain is mostly mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands (see map1). Map 1 – The Republic of the Philippines (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications./the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html) 1 The Philippines produces timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt and copper. Its agriculture products are sugarcane, coconuts, rice, corn, bananas, cassavas, pineapples, mangoes, pork, egg, beef and fish. The country has electronic assembly, garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, food processing, petroleum refining and fishing as its industries. The July 2007 records estimated a population of 91,077,287. Of this 34.5% are of 0-14 year comprising 16,043,257 males/15,415,334 females, 61.3% are in the 15- 64 years bracket with 27,849,584 males/28,008,293 females, and 4.1% of the population with 1,631,866 males/2,128,953 females are 65 years and above. Of the said population, 80.9% of the Filipinos are Roman Catholics, 5% are Muslims, 2.8% are Evangelical, 2.3% are Iglesia ni Kristo, 2% are Aglipayan, 4.5% are other Christians while other comprising 1.8% have other beliefs and still others are unspecified, 0.6% and none, 0.1% (2000 census). The local languages across the country are numerous and serve the purpose of daily living and interactions with others within specific communities. The use of many languages in daily life is normal and widely accepted. Gonzales (2004) noted that the average Filipino is quadrilingual and the Philippines is a multilingual society with over a hundred separate languages. But at the present and by consensus, the Tagalog-based Filipino is widely understood and used in all domains of life. II. MAJOR LANGUAGES OF THE PHILIPPINES A. Regional Languages In a country of thousands of islands, many different languages evolved. There are different estimates about the number of Philippines languages. Ethnologue (2005) reports that there are 171 living languages spoken by the different ethno-linguistic groups of the Philippines. Belves (2002) reports that eight of these are considered major languages in the country. These are: 1) Bikol, 2) Cebuano, 3) Hiligaynon, 4) Ilokano or Iloko, 5) Kapampangan, 6) Pangasinan or Pangasinense 7) Tagalog, and 8) Waray or Samarnon. McFarland (1993), on the other hand, estimates 120 languages and lists the same eight with the addition of Maranao and Maguindanao, which are actually dialects of the same language but are considered different by their users for political and historical reasons. Map 2 on the next page shows the areas where each major regional language are spoken: 1) Bicol is spoken by 3,700,000, 2) Cebuano - by 20,000,000 people, 3) Hiligaynon - by 7,000,000, 4) Ilokano or Iloko - by 7,700,000, 5) Kapampangan - by 2,400,000, 6) Pangasinan or Pangasinense - by 1,540,000, 7) Tagalog - by 22,000,000 8) Waray or Samaron - by 3,100,000. 2 Map 2 – Major Languages of the Philippines The Philippine languages are further divided into subgroups. The first three groups are considered to be closely related to each other. 3 Northern Philippine languages such as Ilokano, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, and Sambal languages are concentrated in northern and central Luzon. Some languages in Mindoro such as Iraya and Tadyawan are included in this group. The Yami language (also known as Tao of Orchid Island in Taiwan) is also member of this group. Meso Philippine languages are perhaps the group with the most speakers and is the most geographically widespread, covering Central Luzon, the Visayas and many parts of Mindanao. Certain languages spoken in Palawan and Mindoro such as Tagbanwa, Palawano, and Hanunoo constitute their own respective subgroups. The largest subgroup are the Central Philippine languages which are composed of Tagalog; Bicol language; Visayan languages such as Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray; and Mansakan Langugaes. Southern Philippines languages such as Maranao, Maguindanao, Manobo languages, and Subanun languages are concentrated in Mindanao. Many Southern Philippine languages have been influenced by Malaysian, Indonesian, Sanskrit and Arabic words. The other three groups below are thought to be more distantly related to the previous three languages. Southern Mindanao languages are languages such as Tboli and Blaan which are spoken in Southern Mindanao. Sama-Bajaw languages are mainly centered in the Sulu Archipelago as well as parts of Borneo. One language, Abaknon, is spoken on Capul Island near Samar, which is far from other Sama languages. Other languages in this group are Yaken and Sama. Sulawesi languages have two representatives in the Philippines, the Sangil and the Sangir languages. B. National Language The decision to have a national language dates back to the time of former President Manuel L. Quezon, who took the initiative and leadership in bringing about a national policy decision on this matter. He issued Executive Order 134 in 1937 proclaiming the adoption, development and use of a national language. The National Assembly, the law-making body at that time created the National Language Institute in 1936, which, after due study recommended that Tagalog be the basis of the national language. On August 13, 1959, the use of “Pilipino” as the official name of the national language was declared then by Secretary Jose E. Romero through Department of Education Order No. 7. In the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, the law mandates that the national language of the Philippines is Filipino. The change of “P” to 4 “F” was based on the alphabet developed by the Institute of National Language which increased the number of letters from 20 to 28 including “F”. Filipino is widely used across the country, particularly in the urban centers. Filipino, as it evolves, incorporates vocabulary from the other Philippine major languages and non-local languages used in the Philippines, i.e. English, Arabic and Spanish. Arabic is not widely spoken in the Philippines but there is a small percentage from the Administrative Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who can decode Arabic for the purpose of reading the Qur’an. But with the institutionalization of the Madaris schools by the Department of Education (DepED), Arabic is now learned and in other areas where it is necessary. III. CURRENT LANGUAGE-IN-EDUCATION POLICIES A. The Legal Basis The 1987 Constitution specifically provides that the “national language of the Philippines is Filipino and as it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. For the purpose of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and until otherwise provided by law, English”. Subsequently, Department Order No. 53, s. 1987 entitled “The 1987 Policy of Bilingual Education” was issued. The policy on bilingual education aims at the achievement of competence in both Filipino and English. The policy statement also emphasizes that “the aspiration of the Filipino nation is to have its citizens possess skills in Filipino to enable them to perform their duties and responsibilities as Filipino citizens and in English in order to meet the needs of the country in the community of nations.” Within this context, the following have been identified as the goals of the bilingual education policy: 1) enhance learning through two languages to achieve quality education; 2) propagate Filipino as the language of literacy; 3) develop Filipino as a linguistic symbol of national unity and identity; 4) cultivate and elaborate Filipino as a language of scholarly discourse, i.e. continue its intellectualization; and 5) maintain English as an international language for the Philippines and as a non-exclusive language of science and technology. As defined in the implementing guidelines, bilingual education means the separate use of Filipino and English as media of instruction in different subject areas. Filipino is used as medium of instruction in Social Studies, Social Sciences, Music, Arts, Physical Education, Home Economics, Practical Arts and Character Education. English on the other hand is used as medium of instruction in Science, Math and Technology subjects. Further, it provides the use of English and Filipino as media of instruction starting Grade I in all schools and the use of the vernacular in the locality or place where the schools is located was prescribed as auxiliary to the media of 5 instruction but only when necessary to facilitate understanding of the concepts being taught in English, Filipino or Arabic, as the case maybe. DECS Order No. 11 s. 1987 was issued in the pursuance to Section 3 of Republic Act No. 8190 known as “An Act Granting Priority to Residents of the Barangay, Municipality or City where the School is Located, in the Appointment or Assignment of Classroom Public School Teachers”. The Order provides the guidelines to be followed in hiring teachers where it clearly stated that the first priority shall be residents of the barangay where the public elementary school is located which allows the use of local language specifically where local culture should be enhanced in cultural minorities. On May 17, 2003, Executive Order No. 210 entitled “Establishing the Policy to Strengthen the Use of the English Language as a Medium of Instruction in the Educational System” was issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.