by: Ryan R. Legaspi

Brought about by the globalization and ASEAN integration, Filipinos are now slowly outgripping its hold from its sealed identity. Slowly and little by little, they drift and turn away from the origin they used to know.

Pieces of evidence that depreciate the Filipino language have been seen – when sector of education implemented the K to 12 curriculum and the General Education for tertiary level where Filipino will no longer be taught. Indeed, the need to be expert in the usage of English language has become a global phenomenon. However, isn’t it a way of negating our own?

By embracing the English language from the American colonizers, our country was regarded as the fifth largest English-speaking country while placing second in Asia. Yes, it is something we could be proud of, but isn’t it a sign also of turning our backs to our own origin, our own identity – the Filipino language? Can’t we be Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese of our own country who use its own dialect as a medium of instruction?

Learning English is always a necessity in the modern era. In fact, it becomes more influential and privileged than Filipino in our country since the latter is still in the process of establishing and gaining its place. Yes, somehow it gives our country an intelligent image since English is considered as an “intellectualized language” but this does not justify the abolition of Filipino as a course. There should always be a room for our mother tongue – the origin that we are known of.

Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese are not speakers of English, but look how rich and flourished their culture is. It does not make them less as a country, in fact, they belong to the wealthiest nations. Look at how they value their identity and origin.

In the debate of Filipino versus English as a medium of instruction, it is not the government(s) and educators’ fault. Honestly, at some point it is ours since we have this mentality to easily judge our fellows who are non-speakers of English. Didn’t we notice that we are slowly, little by little changing our birth country?

Yes, we are speakers of English. Yes, we write English. Yes, we are confident with English. But look at the other side, Filipino citizens are not all English speakers, not all of us understand the foreign language.

Before changing our medium of instruction, everyone needs to consider the whole country. In some aspects, we will be illiterate of what we consider our own. Intelligence is not measured by what language we speak, rather it is assessed on how we decide for the benefit of the whole.