English in the Philippines.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Isagani A. Cruz

WHEN English was the medium of instruction in our schools, practically every Filipino, including those in the barrios, understood and spoke the language. Some of them used what was then called carabao English, but they were able to convey their meaning even to foreigners. The point was that they were understood, albeit with some difficulty, even with their broken grammar and pronunciation.

It is different now with the majority of our people unable to speak English at all. The emphasis is now on the national language and the balarila on the wikang pambansa. English has become a really foreign language where it used to be the lingua franca of the Filipinos, more widespread than the various native dialects.

The public schools have seen to the quiet murder of the English language in the Philippines. Making the national language the medium of instruction did not mean the total displacement of English in the curriculum. But that is what has happened in the public schools, probably for lack of funding for this additional subject. It is only in the private schools where English is retained as a required course, not just an elective.

Yet, strangely enough, most of our official notices, including our laws, are still in English. Our statutes are in English, as so are the decisions of our courts, not excluding the Supreme Court. Even the Constitution is published mostly in English rather than in Tagalog or Ilocano or Pampango. The bar and board examinations are in English. Even our English street signs are hardly understandable to the Visayan jeepney drivers.

In prescribing the national language as the medium of instruction in our schools, the authorities did not intend to abolish English in the curriculum. Yet that is what has happened.