HOW THE proletarian poet Ka Amado V. Hernandez must be turning in his grave.
Coming to light only last week was the Supreme Court lifting – on Oct. p yet – a 2015 temporary restraining order against the Commission on Higher Education and upheld as valid its memorandum excluding Filipino, Panitikan, and Constitution as required subjects in college.
Advocates of Filipino had argued that its exclusion from the General Education Curriculum (GEC) in college violated the Constitution, specifically Section 6, Article XIV, to wit: “The Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.”
The High Court disagreed, saying the provision was not absolutely instructive. And in double” reiterates” that 1) “these constitutional provisions are only policies that may be ‘used by the judiciary as aids or as guides in the exercise of its power of judicial review, and by the legislature in its enactment of laws’; and 2) “that they do not embody judicially enforceable constitutional rights.”
In what could be a double whammy for the Filipino language, also last week, the Department of Education announced that it has chosen 10 schools in Metro Manila will start teaching this semester the Korean language.
This, pursuant to the memorandum of agreement it signed with the Korean Embassy for its Special Program in Foreign Language.
The DepEd said that since 2009, it has already included the teaching of foreign languages, notably Mandarin, Nihongo, French, German, and Spanish in selected schools.
One DepEd functionary has been quoted as saying that the teaching of foreign languages “aims to equip our 21st century learners with 21st century skills, to be multi-lingual, because we all know for a fact that language is a very good tool for a person to be able to sell himself or herself.”
Yes, at the cost, aye, the mere convenience, of scorning Filipino.
Rise up, Rizal, rise up:
Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa sa hayop at malansang isda.
