Manila Bulletin
'Tanggol Wika' persists with its fight to retain Filipino in GEC, laments 'cultural genocide'
'Tanggol Wika' persists with its fight to retain Filipino in GEC, laments 'cultural genocide'
'Tanggol Wika' persists with its fight to retain Filipino in GEC, laments 'cultural genocide'
Published Jun 11, 2019 08:48 pm
By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
As the Philippines celebrates its 121st Independence Day, a group of Filipino language advocates lamented an “imminent cultural genocide” if the teaching of Filipino and Panitikan in the college curriculum will not be retained.
(Tanggol Wika /FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Early this week, the Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) a letter protesting its decision to exclude the two subjects from the General Education Curriculum (GEC).
Despite the “final ruling” of the SC on the matter, Tanggol Wika remained hopeful that it can convince the High Court to retain Filipino and Panitikan in the GEC. The group, in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, warned that its ruling would lead to an “imminent cultural genocide.”
The SC junked with “finality” the motions for reconsideration submitted by the group against its October 2018 decision upholding the CMO No. 20 issued by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The petitioners, the SC noted, “failed” to present substantive new arguments that would make it reverse its earlier decision.
Earlier, CHED lauded the “decisive and timely” resolution of the SC to “deny” the motion for reconsideration to stop the implementation of CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) Number 20, series of 2013, otherwise known as the “General Education Curriculum: Holistic Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies”, in so far as the inclusion of Filipino and Panitikan in the General Education Curriculum of all higher education institutions.
The CMO 20, which was issued during the Aquino administration, delisted Filipino and Panitikan as part of the core subjects of the GEC.
For Tanggol Wika, the SC decision was “patently unjust” especially there would be Filipino teachers who might be displaced because of it. The group argued that at least 10,000 teachers – especially those who are teaching part-time – might lose their jobs should the school administrators decide to implement the SC decision.
In its 22-page letter, the Tanggol Wika noted that “as the national language is a strong social glue that binds our archipelago, it is not an exaggeration to say our country’s survival is also at stake here.” Likewise, the group alleged that the said CHED CMO is “unconstitutional” for violating the 1987 Constitution. CHED, the group said, retained and prioritized English over the Filipino language and “reversed” the official use of Filipino in the educational system.
For Tanggol Wika, it is a “travesty” to allow CHED to make a “regressive move on language policy when the Constitution mandates forward action, continuous progress into the process of cultivating the national language.” For not retaining Filipino and Panitikan in the GEC, both CHED and the SC – the group added – have “somehow decided to kill our country’s soul, our people’s capacity to think freely, the mark of our liberty and collective consciousness.”
(Tanggol Wika /FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Early this week, the Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) a letter protesting its decision to exclude the two subjects from the General Education Curriculum (GEC).
Despite the “final ruling” of the SC on the matter, Tanggol Wika remained hopeful that it can convince the High Court to retain Filipino and Panitikan in the GEC. The group, in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, warned that its ruling would lead to an “imminent cultural genocide.”
The SC junked with “finality” the motions for reconsideration submitted by the group against its October 2018 decision upholding the CMO No. 20 issued by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The petitioners, the SC noted, “failed” to present substantive new arguments that would make it reverse its earlier decision.
Earlier, CHED lauded the “decisive and timely” resolution of the SC to “deny” the motion for reconsideration to stop the implementation of CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) Number 20, series of 2013, otherwise known as the “General Education Curriculum: Holistic Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies”, in so far as the inclusion of Filipino and Panitikan in the General Education Curriculum of all higher education institutions.
The CMO 20, which was issued during the Aquino administration, delisted Filipino and Panitikan as part of the core subjects of the GEC.
For Tanggol Wika, the SC decision was “patently unjust” especially there would be Filipino teachers who might be displaced because of it. The group argued that at least 10,000 teachers – especially those who are teaching part-time – might lose their jobs should the school administrators decide to implement the SC decision.
In its 22-page letter, the Tanggol Wika noted that “as the national language is a strong social glue that binds our archipelago, it is not an exaggeration to say our country’s survival is also at stake here.” Likewise, the group alleged that the said CHED CMO is “unconstitutional” for violating the 1987 Constitution. CHED, the group said, retained and prioritized English over the Filipino language and “reversed” the official use of Filipino in the educational system.
For Tanggol Wika, it is a “travesty” to allow CHED to make a “regressive move on language policy when the Constitution mandates forward action, continuous progress into the process of cultivating the national language.” For not retaining Filipino and Panitikan in the GEC, both CHED and the SC – the group added – have “somehow decided to kill our country’s soul, our people’s capacity to think freely, the mark of our liberty and collective consciousness.”