PHILIPPINES

:
LANGUAGE
POLICIES
Spanish and American
Colonization Period
ONE
SPAIN
COLONIZATION OF PHILIPPINES

UNDER SPANISH RULE

The Decree in 1550

issued by Carlos I in Valladolid in 1550 (June 7) and reissued in

July 17. It demanded the teaching of Castilian in the Spanish
colonies which was issued before the colonization of the
Philippines.
Instructions in 1596

The king of Spain (Felipe II) sent to Tello, Governor of the

Philippine colony, an instruction which stated that learning of
indigenous languages by the friars was inadequate for missionary,
instead the friars should teach Spanish to natives.
The Decree in 1603

The above two decrees required the teaching of the Spanish

language, but at the same time the Crown government demanded
of friars to learn indigenous languages probably because some of
friars were reluctant or incompetent to master indigenous
languages
The Decree in 1634

Felipe IV issued a decree demanding that the colonial government

should teach Spanish to all the natives. The previous decrees stated
that the Spanish teaching should be given to natives who were
willing to learn, not to all the natives.
The Decree in 1686

Carlos II issued a decree in which he complained that former

decrees (issued in 1550,1634 and 1636) had not been observed and
stated there would be punishment if not observed.
The Decree in 1792

A similar type of decree was issued by Carlos IV in which he

evoked the previous decrees (May 10, 1770; November 28, 1772;
November 24, 1774)
 LAWS

In compliance with decrees issued by the home government...

the colonial government also issued several laws concerning language
policies. Compared to the royal decrees, those laws presented more concrete
methods. But they were equally ignored by friars.
 01
THE
ORDINANCE
1768

Governor Solís issued the following law on October 19, 1752, later it
became Ordinance 52 in 1768. This ordinance asked the establishment of
schools and prohibited any other language than Spanish in schools. It
stated that official jobs could be given to those speaking Spanish as an
incentive to learning of Spanish.
 02
EDUCATION
ACT
IN 1863

Prescribed that Spanish was to be the sole medium of instruction in order

to facilitate the need to learn Spanish, so that literacy in Spanish
appeared to be the major purpose of the curriculum. To this end, the
decree provided that natives who could not speak, read and write Spanish
five years after its issuance were not to be permitted to hold salaried
government positions. This was the major motivation to induce the
Filipinos to study the language.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

The reasons of the failure of the Spanish

language education was multifaceted,
some of them being enumerated as
follows:
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

The Philippines is geographically distant

from Spain, so royal decrees were not so
forceful as in the homeland.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

In order to prevent the impact of

independence of Latin Americans, the
authority wanted the natives to be barred
from news form outside, therefore, being
hesitant to spread the Spanish language.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

The decrees being originally oriented for

Americans, did not fit the realities in the
Philippines.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

A lack of funds was another reason.

Expenses for education were largely
defrayed by the clergy, not by the
national treasury.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

There were generally no incentives for

natives to learn Spanish.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

The Spaniards were forbidden to live in

the native village except friars, therefore,
natives had few chances to practice
Spanish.
Failure of the Spanish
Language Education

Even though the colonial government

planned to spread the Spanish language,
the friars in villages and towns wanted to
monopoly the tools of communication
and ensure their own power base. The
friars were categorically opposed the
spread of Spanish.
TWO
AMERICA
COLONIZATION OF PHILIPPINES

UNDER AMERICAN RULE

EDUCATION UNDER THE AMERICANS

After the Spanish-American War, the US Government sent

the Thomasites to the Philippines. They made it a point to
teach English to the Filipinos.
 END
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