PART I.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Language Diversity

This reflects the existence of the multitude of languages spoken in the world which is variously
estimated at between 6000-7000 languages.

Majority Language

This refers to the language that’s usually spoken by a majority of the population in a country or
in a region of a country. In a multilingual society, this language is generally considered a
high-status language.

Bilingual/Bilingualism

This pertains to one’s ability to speak another language aside from one’s primary language.

Official Language

This is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other
jurisdiction.

Language of Instruction

This refers to the language used for teaching the basic curriculum of the educational system.

Minority Language

This pertains to a language spoken by a smaller number of the population of a territory.

Mother tongue

This is a traditional term for a person’s native language–that is, a language learned from birth.
National Language

This is the officially designated language of a nation or country, usually for cultural and/or ethnic
reasons.

Bilingual Education

This refers to the use of two languages as mediums of instruction.

Language Learning

This is where the grammar, vocabulary, and written and oral forms of a language constitute a
specific curriculum for the acquisition of a second language other than the mother tongue.

Linguistic Rights

This protects the individual and collective right to choose one’s language or languages for
communication both within the private and the public spheres.

Multilingual Education

This refers to the use of at least three languages, the mother tongue, a regional or national
language, and an international language in education.

Language Policy

This is designed to favor or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages;
many countries now have policies designed to protect and promote regional and ethnic
languages whose viability is threatened.

Mother tongue instruction

This refers to any form of schooling that makes use of the language/languages that children are
most familiar with.
Multilingual/Multilingualism

This is the ability of an individual speaker or a community of speakers to communicate

effectively in 3 or more languages.

PART II: Philippines and its Languages

The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago made up of 7,107 islands, located in the
southwest Pacific Ocean, about 800km off the southeast Asian Mainland. The island group is
bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the south by the Celebes Sea, and on the west
and north by the South China Sea. It has a land area of 298,170sq.km. The terrain is mostly
mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands.

Ethnologue reports 171 living languages spoken by different ethnolinguistic groups.

8 major languages:
1. Bikol
2. Cebuano
3. Hiligaynon
4. Ilokano or Iloko
5. Kapampangan
6. Pangasinan or Pangasinense
7. Tagalog
8. Waray or Samarnon

Philippine Languages are divided into subgroups, The first three groups are considered to be
closely related to each other:
● Northern Philippine Languages
● Meso Philippine Languages
● Southern Philippine LAnguage

The other three groups are more distantly related to the previously mentioned languages:
● Southern Mindanao Languages
● Sama-Bajaw Languages
● Sulawesi Languages
FACT/EVOLUTION:

● Executive Order 134 (1937) proclaimed the adoption, development, and use of national
language.
● National Language Institute (1936) recommended Tagalog as the basis of a national
language
● Use of “Pilipino” as the official name of the national language declared (August 13, 1959)
through Department of Education Order No. 7
● 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines mandates that the national language
is “Filipino” and further provides that for the purpose of communication and instruction,
the official languages are Filipino and until otherwise provided by law, English.

Part III: Issues and Concerns

“Even if the Philippines is doing fine in terms of English competency, concerns about how much
of a competitive advantage it still is for the country were raised. The stakeholders agreed that
the country needs to step up its efforts in improving the teaching and learning of English,
Developing it as a vital skill of the workforce.”

“Those who teach and advocate the wider use of Filipino see CHED as threatening its place
with the current proposals to abolish its teaching as a language at the University level in the
coming years. Instead, universities would be left to decide which courses would be in Filipino
and which in English”

According to the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), the Philippines has 183 living
languages–almost 96% of which are indigenous. The SIL lists 11 of these as “dying”, while 28
are “in trouble”. But the actual number of threatened languages remains a mystery, as no
detailed and systematic census has been administered to test the SIL’s research in these
communities, said Jesus Federico Hernandez, a professor at the UP Department of Linguistics.
The Philippines suffered a seven-spot drop in this year's English Proficiency Index released this
week by international education company Education First. For the past four years, the country
has been declining in the EF English Proficiency Index. It was placed in the 13th spot in 2016,
the 15th spot in 2017, the 14th spot in 2018, and the 20th spot in 2019. During the 2018
Programme for International Student Assessment by the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Philippines ranked the lowest in reading
comprehension among 79 countries with an average reading score of 340.
[VIDEO PART 1] From the Spanish to Japanese Period

Part I. The Spanish Period

Since the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and their unification of the archipelago, language
became a key aspect of governmentality.

Language governmentality has been seen as an integral extension of Foucault’s concept of

governmentality (Pennycook, 2002; Flores, 2014) in which societies promote organized
practices to mold citizens into the desired ideal of a particular sociohistorical context (Rose and
Miller, 1990)

Though the Spanish remained in the Philippines for nearly 400 years, they never made a
serious, systematic attempt to teach Spanish, and Spanish never became the language of the
majority of Filipinos.

The Katipunan on Language

These early Philippine rebels explicitly rejected Spanish, the language pf the conquistador, as
the language of Philippine nationhood. Instead, the revolutionary leaders of this group elevated
their language, TAGALOG.

Why Tagalog?

Spain establishes the capital of their overseas territory in Manila, on the island of Luzon. Manila
remained so for the next 330 years, later becoming the capital of the American and Japanese
colonizers before becoming the capital of the independent Philippines.

As Manila prospered as an imperial city, so too did the local language, Tagalog. While Spanish
was the language of government, Tagalog remained the language of the governed in the capital
city.
Part II. The Revolution

The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato

The 1896 discovery of the Manila-based Katipunan by the Spanish authorities led to the
Philippine Revolution. On March 22, 1897, the Tejeros Assembly elected the first Philippine
President, Emilio Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo presided over the writing of the Constitution of
Biak-na-Bato.

This constitution, written exclusively by the Tagalog members of the Katipunan, was originally
released in only Spanish and Tagalog. Article 277 reads simply “Tagalog shall be the official
Language of the Republic.”

American Period

The American occupation force quickly opened the first republic school in the Philippines on
Corregidor Island, a prelude to a system of universal public schools.

The Education Act of 1902, enacted “By authority of the President of the United States,”
directed the United States Philippine Commission to establish a system of schools. One goal of
these two was, “The English language shall, as soon as practicable be made the basis of all
public school instruction…” (Act No. 74, 1901)

The establishment of a single language for education was deemed “essential to the success of
democracy in the Philippines” as mass education was viewed as a key component of this form
of governmentality.
Part III. The Transitional Government

The National Language

In 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, a transitional government segueing between the
American Colonial administration and full independence, was established. Manuel L. Quezon
won the first presidential election and, with the election of a President, came the advent of a
legislative body.

In 1936, the first legislative body passed Commonwealth Act No. 184, s. 1936, funding an
Institute of National Language (INL). The INL was given the task of “the study of Philippine
dialects in general for the purpose of evolving and adopting a common national language based
on the existing native tongues” (Rubcrico, 1998).

While the Commonwealth saw a national language as instrumental to building a cohesive

Philippine nation, the Commonwealth mandated the adoption of an indigenous
language–Tagalog– as the standard language of the Philippines. The Commonwealth, however,
also emphasized the need for proficiency in English as the perceived language of democracy
and a connection with America and Spanish as a link to the Philippines’ Latin Heritage (Quezon,
1937, p. 4).

Quezon, a Tagalog speaker, appointed seven people to the INL, representing the larger
linguistic groups in the Philippines:

● Hadji Butu, Tausug

● Santiago S. Fonacier, Iloko
● Cecilio Lopez, Tagalog2
● Casimiro F. Perfecto, Bicol
● Felix S. Salas Rodriguez, Panay Visayan
● Filemon Sotto, Cebuano
● Jaime C. de Veyra, Chair, Waray-Waray
The unanimous recommendation of the INL was the establishment of Tagalog as the national
language. Moreover, Quezon claimed, that Tagalog “was not only the native tongue of Rizal but
also is the most developed of all the existing languages” of the Philippines, meaning Tagalog
was perceived as having the most consistent orthography and the most developed written
literary tradition.

In 1938, the INL was replaced by the National Language Institute (NIL), which was charged with
developing a grammar book and an orthographically standard dictionary for the implementation
of a Tagalog-based curriculum. The 1940-41 school year was the first to teach this national
language as part of the national curriculum.

Part IV. Japanese Colonization

The Puppet Government

Like the previous colonizers, Japan maintained Manila as the seat of government. Jose P.
Laurel, the nominal president of Japan’s puppet government, was a Tagalog speaker from Metro
Manila.

As the Japanese were only in the Philippines for a relatively short time and were preoccupied
with the Pacific Campaign, they were unable to seriously implement the Japanese-only policy
they had established in longer-held colonies such as Korea and Manchuria. Aside from the
Japanese themselves, the de facto language of the National Government remained Tagalog.
[VIDEO PART 2] From Martial Law to Macapagal’s Regime

Part I. Martial Law and The 1987 Constitution

The Third Republic came to an end in 1972 as President Ferdinand Marcos, who had been
elected in 1965 and had presided over the country during the language debates previously
discussed, declared Martial Law, effectively becoming a dictator (Marcos, Proclamation No.
1081, 1972).

Throughout the remaining years of Martial Law, language in education policy was not at the
forefront of policymakers’ minds. Moreover, the 1973 Constitution, forced through the Philippine
congress, addressed language only by affirming Pilipino was the National Language. Marcos,
however, increased the promotion of English for economic gain, focusing on direct United States
investment.

Consistent with the 1987 constitutional mandate and a declared policy of the National Board of
Education (NBE) on bilingualism in schools (NBE Resolution No. 73-77, s.1973) the Department
of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS) promulgated its language policy.

The policy was first implemented in 1974 when DECS issued Dept. Order No. 25, s. 1974 titled,
“Implementing Guidelines for the Policy on Bilingual Education”.

The Philippine Bilingual Education Policy (BEP)

Initial Version

Bilingual education in the Philippines is defined operationally as the separate use of Filipino and
English as the media of instruction in specific subject areas. As embodied in the DECS Order
No. 25, Pilipino (changed to Filipino in 1987) shall be used as a medium of instruction in social
studies/social sciences, music, arts, physical education, home economics, practical arts, and
character education. English, on the other hand, is allocated to science, mathematics, and
technology subjects.
After the People Power Revolution was the inauguration of Corazon Aquino, the wifi of the slain
Benigno, as the 11th President of the Philippines. Aquino worked to restore a bicameral
legislature and pass the Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas, the 1987 Constitution that is still in effect.

The Language provisions in the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines which are
embodied in Article XIV, Sec. 6 and 7 provide the legal basis for the various language policies
that are being implemented in the country. The ratification of the above-mentioned constitution
resolved the issue of what the national language is since the 1935 and 1973 Philippine Charters
were not clear about this. The provisions are as follows:

1. Section 6. The National language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further
developed and enriched based on existing Philippine and other languages.
2. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are
Filipino and English.

The ideal citizen of the Philippines remained one who was fluent in Filipino and English but,
under sections 6 and 7 of Article XIV, "Education, Science, and Technology, Arts, Culture and
Sports", allowances were made for the use of the MT in the classroom:

For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are
Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary
official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.
(Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, 1987).

Part II. The Philippine Bilingual Education Policy (BEP)

Corazon Aquino produced the concurrent DECS Order No. 52 laid out the specific language of
instruction for each subject area:

Filipino: Social Studies, Character Education, Work Education, Health Sciences, Physical
Education

English: Science, Math

The goals of the Bilingual Education Policy shall be:

1. enhanced learning through two languages to achieve quality education as called for by the
1987 Constitution;
2. the propagation of Filipino as a language of literacy;
3. the development of Filipino as a linguistic symbol of national unity and identity;
4. the cultivation and elaboration of Filipino as a language of scholarly discourse, that is to say
its continuing intellectualization; and
5. the maintenance of English as an international language for the Philippines and as a
non-exclusive language of science and technology.

Tertiary-level institutions shall lead to the continuing intellectualization of Filipinos. The program
of intellectualization, however, shall also be pursued at both the elementary and secondary
levels.

The Department of Education, Culture and Sports shall cooperate with the National Language
Commission which according to the 1987 Constitution, shall be tasked with the further
development and enrichment of Filipino.

Guidelines for the implementation of the 1987 Policy on Bilingual Education are specified in the
DECS Order No. 54, s. 1987. Among these are the need to intellectualize Filipino and the
concrete steps suggested towards its realization.

Part III. Executive Order No. 335 and Commision on Higher Education

On August 25, 1988, then President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order No. 335 enjoining
all departments/ bureaus/ offices/ agencies/ instrumentalities of the government to take such
steps as are necessary for the purpose of using the Filipino language in official transactions,
communications, and correspondence. The order was issued on the belief that the use of
Filipino in official transactions, communications, and correspondence in government offices will
result to a greater understanding and appreciation of government programs, projects, and
activities throughout the country, thereby serving as an instrument of unity and peace for
national progress.
All departments/bureaus/offices/agencies/instrumentalities of the government are enjoined to do
the following:
a. Take steps to enhance the use of Filipino in official communications, transactions, and
correspondence in their respective offices, whether national or local;
b. Assign one or more personnel, as may be necessary, in every office to take charge of
communications and correspondence written in Filipino;
c. Translate into Filipino names of offices, buildings, public edifices, and signboards of all
offices, divisions, or its instrumentalities, and if so desired, imprint below in smaller letters the
English text;
d. Filipinize the "Oath of Office" for government officials and personnel; and
e. Make as part of the training programs for personnel development in each office proficiency in
the use of Filipino in official communications and correspondence.

Opposition soon arose. As globalization increased in the 1980s, another shift occurred in
language governmentality. Although President Aquino had initially allowed for the use of MT and
limited English to two subject areas, English proficiency again began to be seen as a key
attribute of an ideal citizen. English was now seen as the link to economic progress

The Language Policy of the Commission on Higher Education

In 1994, Republic Act No. 7722, creating the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was
signed. This Act which is known as the "Higher Education Act of 1994" provides that the CHED
shall be independent and separate from the DECS and attached to the Office of the President
for administrative purposes only. Its coverage shall be both public and private institutions of
higher education as well as degree-granting programs in all post-secondary educational
institutions, public and private.

One of the first steps undertaken by CHED was to update the General Education Curriculum
(GEC) of tertiary courses leading to an initial bachelor's degree covering four (4) curriculum
years. This was done to make the curriculum more responsive to the demands of the next
millennium. The requirements of the new GEC are embodied in the CHED Memorandum Order
(CMO) No. 59, s. 1996. Listed under miscellaneous of this CMO is its language policy which is
as follows:
In consonance with the Bilingual Education Policy underlined in DECS Order No. 52, Series of
1987, the following are the guidelines vis-a-vis medium of instruction, to wit:

1. Language courses, whether Filipino or English, should be taught in that language.

2. At the discretion of the HEI, Literature subjects may be taught in Filipino, English, or any
other language as long as there are enough instructional materials for the same and both
students and instructors/professors are competent in the language.
3. Courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences should preferably be taught in Filipino.

Despite English's continued presence in the classroom, its decrease was held responsible for
stymieing growth and led to the reemergence of an English-first policy under the administration
of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No 210, titled "Establishing the Policy to Strengthen
English as a Second Language in the Educational System." Claiming, that English was
necessary for the "technology-driven sectors of the economy,"

a. English shall be taught as a second language, starting with the First Grade.

b. As provided for in the 2002 Basic Education Curriculum, English shall be used as the medium
of instruction for English, Mathematics, and Science from at least the Third Grade level.

c. The English language shall be used as the primary medium of instruction in all public and
private institutions of learning at the secondary level...As the primary medium of instruction, the
percentage of time allotment for learning areas conducted in the English language is expected
to be not less than seventy percent (70%) of the total time allotment for all learning areas in the
secondary level. (Macapagal-Arroyo, 2003).
[VIDEO PART 3] Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education; Caps, Issues, and
Challenges

Part I. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education

Juxtaposed with Executive Order 210 was the 2003 publication of the results of the First
Language Education Bridging Program Pilot Project in the Lubuagan District Schools.

Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)

SIL’s work in Lubuagan was the first study in fifty years done with children not speaking the
national language in their homes, the previous study being the oft-overlooked Iloilo Experiment
of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1998, SIL chose five local schools to begin their work. Test groups
and control groups were established; each followed the guidelines established by DepEd.

The control groups used English and Filipino as the MOI and the test groups used Lubuagan,
the local language, as the MOI for 4.5 hours of each day. English and Filipino were taught as
second languages but again with Lubuagan as the MOI (Dumatog & Dekker, 2003, p. 4). After
five years, the first results were published, showing that the test groups substantially
outperformed the control groups in every subject area. This included English and Filipino.

This study was presented to the government and, realizing that the use of the MT could greatly
increase citizens' proficiency in both English and the national language, DepEd issued Order
No. 74, s. 2009, "Institutionalizing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MLE)."

This order recognized, "pupils who have learned to read and write in their first language learn to
speak, read, and write in a second language (L2) and third language (L3) more quickly than
those who are taught in a second or third language first" (Lapus, 2009). As such, the order
established MT was to be used in the first three grades of Philippine schools as a bridge to the
national language.

In 2012, this order became law as the Philippine Congress passed Act No. 10533, "Enhancing
the Philippine Basic Education System" (Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, 2012). Act
No. 10533 contains several provisions. Part of this act mandates that the Department of
Education (DepED) shall formulate a mother language transition program from Grade 4 to
Grade 6 so that Filipino and English shall be gradually introduced as languages of instruction
until such time when these two (2) languages can become the primary languages of instruction
at the secondary level. (Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, 2012).

For the first time in decades, local languages will be used in classrooms. Indeed, their presence
is mandated now by law. This law is not designed to elevate the regional languages to an equal
level as much as it is to increase the proficiency of English and Filipino. The law specifically
transitions students out of their language and into English and Filipino.

Part II. Gaps, Issues, and Challenges in the Implementation of MTB-MLE

Full of articles and news reports.