ESPINOSA – EDITORIAL: FILIPINO, PANITIKAN UNCONSTITUTIONALIZED

A foreigner in his own land

It is not foreign to every Filipino that we have issues regarding our national territory.
The people and the government is acting possessive toward it, even going lengths just to
protect it. May it be land or a body of water, we are aggressive in protecting it from the hands
of the undeserving; but all of these have the same bottom line, it is our property. It is ours.
Recently, it was reported that the subjects Filipino, Panitikan and Constitution would be
removed in the general education curriculum in college, thus raising eyebrows of the citizens,
especially the teaching force and the advocates of the language. The worst part is that, the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) made the decision to remove them as a subject since
they need to rationalize the curriculum following the K-12 program. Have a closer look, they
want to rationalize the system, but are they being rational?
Now, let us go back to the first thing we discussed. We are protective of our properties,
and yet we cannot stand by our very own language, the main medium we use to communicate
daily. Is there a margin between what we consider as a valuable and what is not? Shame,
maybe this government does not really know the value of education. Maybe, for them, mastery
and progression is not a matter; you need only to know, not to internalize what you are
learning.
Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma supported this motion, however. In line with
the statement of CHED, he said, “Dahil nadagdagan ng dalawang taon, meron na tayong senior
high school ngayon. Noong wala pa ‘yang senior high school, ang kaagad na kasunod ng fourth
year high school ay kolehiyo, at karaniwan doon sa unang dalawang taon ng kolehiyo, pinaiiral
‘yung tinatawag na general education program. Ang ginagawa ng CHED at ng Department of
Education ngayon ay nira-rationalize nila ‘yung pagtuturo, at sa kanilang pagpapasya, ‘yung mga
dating sangkap ng General Education Curriculum, elemento ng general education sa kolehiyo,
pwede nang mai-deliver ‘yan doon sa senior high school dahil ‘yon naman ang logical extension
‘non,".
This statement clearly declares the education about the language and the other two as a
mere waste of time. It simply says that after you plant a seed, saw it grow, you will stop
watering it immediately, and let it survive on its own. For all we know, the mode of instruction
in college is much more advanced than the additional two years, which will gain an intensive
understanding towards the language, sparking patriotism and nationalism.
Nowadays, there is no guarantee if the youth even know how to properly use some
Filipino words properly. Parents from the middle to upper classes teach their young children to
speak in English at a very young age, causing them to use the language more frequent that their
mother tongue. This then results to these children being clueless on what is truly theirs, since
they are born believing that this foreign property is supreme. Is it not a shame that you know
something of others’ too well, and not what is yours?
In line with this, CHED says that teaching Filipino in college is just redundancy. Now
then, if they want to do that, is there even an assurance that all the products of the Basic
Education level will be full knowledgeable on the twists and turns in the language, as they are in
English? If they can guarantee that in the 12 years of education before college, an hour of the
Filipino subject per day is enough to learn the language holistically, then they can do what they
want.
Some senators negated the said motion. Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Panfilo Lacson,
and Koko Pimentel were disappointed over the development, noting that Filipinos still have a
lot to learn about the language.
"Marami nang mga bata na hindi marunong mag Filipino, eh samantalang Pinoy tayo.
Nakakahiya yata ang sitwasyon na yun," Lacson said.
“Ang Filipino na alam natin ngayon ay nagiging Taglish (Tagalog-English) na at mababaw.
Mas mawawala na ang kaalaman ng mga kabataan sa mas malalim na paggamit ng Filipino pag
mawawala pa ito sa kolehiyo," Gatchalian said.
Again, let us take note of Jose Rizal’s famous statement, about the youth being the hope
of our land. Yes, they are smart and innovative due to the demands of 21 st century education,
but will they be this “hope” if they are missing something from their identity? Moreover, will
they be motivated enough to study Filipino in their younger years, if they know that it will not
be needed in college? With that, will the “rationalizing” motion be justified? It would be like
sweeping the floor with the fan on. It makes you look idiotic.
Another issue in connection is the offering of the Korean language as an elective subject
in High School. Some schools in the country already started teaching this. We know that this
language has its own alphabet that one needs to learn in order to actually be cultured in it. If
we delved deeper, why can’t the country offer the Baybayin as an elective instead? If they are
so confident that Filipino education in High School is enough, and teaching it in college is
pointless, they why not let the students learn something that is our own, instead of embracing
a language whose people does not even bother to learn ours?
Considering all these information, are we truly Filipinos? We are called as such in the
name of our language, our identity, but we are blinding ourselves with the goods of another. As
the saying goes, “Kung hindi ka magsasalita, mapapanis ang laway mo.” Maybe this is the
reason why the Filipino language is slowly fading away. It is not used, not honored, not valued
and most importantly, not learned. We are being uncultured inhabitants of its country.
Let us not wait until we reach the point when our sons and daughters ask us “Ma, Pa,
what is the difference between an upuan and silya?”