Libanan says Pinoy students should learn to speak Mandarin; here's why

House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan wants the Mandarin language be promoted in all school levels in the country, if only to help improve Filipinos' competitiveness in the international labor market.

“If we are going to continue to rely on the export of labor to help drive our economic growth, we might as well equip our future workers with Mandarin and other foreign language skills to further build up their competitiveness,” Libanan said in a statement Sunday, Feb. 12.

“In foreign labor markets, we already have the edge because our workers can speak English. We should now aspire to double that advantage by encouraging more Filipinos to learn Mandarin at an early age,” noted the veteran lawmaker.

Libanan said the Mandarin language skills would enable the country’s future workers to capture new lucrative labor markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

The minority leader’s remarks came after the House approved on second reading a bill suspending the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3, owing to the lack of learning materials or textbooks in major Philippine dialects.

Libanan also reckoned that elementary and high schools should encourage the creation of Mandarin language student clubs along with English clubs. “We already have many young learners from Filipino-Chinese families that speak Mandarin. They can help put up Mandarin clubs in their schools."

The minority leader also called on the country’s 117 state universities and colleges to offer Mandarin courses as part of their foreign language programs.

“We would urge the Filipino-Chinese chamber of commerce and industry in every city or province to do their share by offering Mandarin language scholarships to students,” Libanan said.