Senatorial candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro on Friday pushed for the restoration of language classes in the college curriculum to expand the linguistics skills of Filipinos.
Teodoro, a former defense secretary, said learning other languages would help generate additional job and livelihood opportunities for Filipinos.
"We need to prepare our students with basic language skills because we are an international destination for tourism and investments,” Teodoro said in a statement.
“We need the widest amount of linguistics skills possible," he added.
Teodoro, a former Tarlac congressman, also said learning other international languages aside from English is a significant skill to acquire amid globalization.
It is also a consideration with the Philippines being promoted as tourism destination and investment hub for multinational companies, he said.
Teodoro, the 1989 Bar topnotcher, added that expanding the linguistics skills of Filipinos will help the Philippines attract more investments from multinational companies, especially from the business process management sector.
The senatorial candidate said that there is also a need to improve language training in the country apart from bringing back the language classes.
Teodoro noted that among the most in demand languages include Mandarin, Arabic, and Spanish due to the large population speaking these languages around the globe, as well as other European languages such as French, German, and Portuguese, among others.
Asian languages like Japanese and Korean also have increasing demand, he said.