English as a National Language of the Filipino People

A fact that Filipinos gloss over is that when English was introduced as a result of American occupation of the country in 1898, there was rapid acceptance of the language. Thus after two decades of American sovereignty, about 800-900 thousand Filipinos (out  of 10 million) were functional in the language and this proportion increased.  Also in 10 years after occupation, the use of the language was large enough for the University of the Philippines to issue a literary journal “College Folio” in 1910. This is the precursor of the student blurb, Philippine Collegian.

Nonetheless the nationalist sentiment then prevailing, Filipinos took to English like fish to water. In time the language became a medium of expressing nationalism nationwide. (Tagalog was an important medium but only in Luzon). Thus English was in the process of facilitating national consciousness may well have had a different trajectory until Quezon’s Commonwealth declared Tagalog as the National Language. English was then serving as a national language of communication between the regions.

Subsequent Philippine governments have stuck to the nationalist line. Laurel’s Republic kept Tagalog as a national language and post-independence Philippines have made Pilipino or Filipino (essentially Tagalog-based) as the national language. However since 1935, the national language has been viewed with scepticism and at times outright hostility (especially in the Visayas and the Ilocos)

The framers of the 1987 constitution generally assumed that Filipino as a distinct language from Tagalog already existed. Thus they dissolved the distinction between Pilipino (aka Tagalog) and Filipino thus catapulting Tagalog as the National Language. Such state of affairs remain and “skirmishes” such as the AFP refusing to salute the colours when the National Anthem is sung in the local language (e.g. Chavacano in Zamboanga) reignite the language issue.

What do we need a national language for? After all when America double crossed us and seized Manila on August 13, 1898, it found a linguistically diverse nation and when it recognized Philippine independence in 1946, the country was still linguistically diverse but with one difference. A huge proportion of Filipinos were functional in English in all regions. In contrast, when the Spanish sold the Philippines, only a small proportion of Filipinos spoke Spanish.

Since independence there has been a persistent move to remove English from official life by putting a deadline for when English will lose its official status. The 1987 Constitution gives Congress the right to do this but it hasn’t acted. One reason why English should lose its official status is that it purportedly “is a  continuing vehicle for Anglo-American ideas” that can damage the native culture as one nationalist has it. However this idea that a foreign language can erase indigenous culture is so outmoded and while it may have had currency in the early post-colonial period, it largely no longer applies. We can take the example of Ireland, where there isn’t a strong movement to junk English and completely replace it with Irish. English and Irish remain as the country’s official languages and the Irish republic is mandated to support both languages and all Irish people have to learn both in State schools. Ireland has contributed so much to world English literature. English has contributed to the Irish national identity like Irish does.

It is plain to see that imposition of one indigenous language over the rest as a national language will not foster the unity of Filipinos. What nationalists should aim for is to support the indigenous languages while pushing for Philippine English as an important vehicle for communication between regions if the regions do choose to do so. If they choose Tagalog-based Filipino, then that is fine.

But in order to do this we have to protect the official status of Philippine English and the best way to do this is elevate its status to a national language (for which it really is). This will mandate the State to provide support for its development and propagation. English can still be the medium for opening numerous opportunities for Filipinos also provide the medium for rapid political empowerment.

However the decades of small minded nationalism have retarded the development of English literature in the Philippines. We could have become another Ireland, contributing much to world English literature but we haven’t. Instead we are wailing over the colonial past when the colonial language can be wielded to our advantage.

I propose to readers of this post to make English a national language of the Filipino People.

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