Constitutional Provisions on Language in the Philippines , Implications, Recommendations For most of the history of humanity, no one has thought

to legislate a national language. There have been customs, it is true. For example, the Roman Empire customarily used Latin in its government communications and schools, but it never made laws that in effect made Latin as the only official or national language of the Roman Empire . (Many Romans even admired and used the Greek language over Latin, including some Emperors.) At face value, the legislation of a national language sounds unnatural and weird. Humanity has always spoken diverse languages; that is the natural human condition. One may like it, or may not like it, but for countless centuries no one had ever thought of lawfully making one language the only official language for a state. It started during the ultra-nationalistic French Revolution and its aftermath, Napoleonic France. Nationhood after the French revolution was based on the idea of One Nation, One Language, or Unity in Uniformity. To be a citizen of France one had to know French. Just as English has William Shakespeare (although until today there is a controversy whether or not it was really him who wrote all the magnificent Shakespearean plays and sonnets) and Russian has Alexander Pushkin, the French language has the early 17th century poet Franois de Malherbe, who through his poetic writings created a standard for the language. In 1635, Cardinal Richelieu created the L'Acadmie Franaise ( French Academy ), whose primary purpose was and is to standardize the French language. In 1795, during the French Revolution, the French Academy was incorporated into the substantially more powerful Institut de France. This institute acts similarly to a national commission that dictates what is to be regarded as French or not, and to impose what is regards as French in all of France . Napoleonic France set a mono-cultural standard that was soon followed by most of the rest of the world. At the extreme end was probably Czarist Russia. Under Tsar Alexander III (1845-1894), emperor of Russia in 18811894, the government dogmatically imposed Russianness in the traditionally multiethnic Russian Empire. Schools and government organizations were directed to use only the Russian language. Publications in the Empires non-Russian languages were banned or outlawed.

The 19th century and the first half of the 20th century was the age of nationalism, specifically the idea of One Nation One Language. In the early 20th century, Chinese nationalists took up the idea of Unity in Uniformity. The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) was formed in 1912, from the merger of several nationalist organizations that had just overthrown the last imperial Chinese dynasty (the Qing). Specifically the Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing was made into the basis of the modern written language, Baihua; and under the nationalist regime this began to be taught in Chinese schools after 1917. At that time, the Philippines had never experienced such an unnatural imposition as a national language. However, probably spurred on by the European examples and that of neighboring China , copycat Filipinos in the 1930s also took up the national language craze of the world. The idea of one national language for all Filipinos originally was as foreign to us as baloney sandwich. In the 1935 Constitution, the idea of One Nation, One Language became evident. The 1935 Constitution mandated the formation of a national language based on one of the Philippine languages. (A controversy surrounds this provision. The records of the 1935 Constitutional Convention showed that the delegates eventually approved a national language based on all the Philippine languages. The draft went to the style committee, but after alleged manipulation by Tagalistas, the final draft showed a provision that mandated a national language based on one of the Philippine languages.)

1935 CONSTITUTION ART. XIV, SEC.3. The Congress shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one the existing native languages. Until otherwise provided by law, English and Spanish shall continue as official languages.

After the promulgation of the 1935 Constitution, the Institute of National Language was created by the National Assembly. It was heavily influenced by leading Tagalog nationalists including Claro M. Recto and President Manuel Luis Quezon himself. This Institute recommended to President Manuel Luis Quezon the choice of Tagalog as the basis of the common national language mandated by the Constitution. Quezon then proclaimed Tagalog as the national language of the Philippines on 30 November 1937, supposedly based on the Institutes recommendation, although it was known that the Tagalista Quezon himself had influenced the Institutes recommendation. In brief, Quezon influenced an organization of a Government that he led to recommend a National Language that he later officially approved. Quezon baked the pie and then ate it in the name of all Filipinos.

Naturally educated non-Tagalog Filipinos who saw the implications of Quezons actions protested. Before World War II, Tagalog was never taught in Philippine schools in the national level. It was clear to the educated non-Tagalogs that allowing the teaching of Tagalog (even a Tagalog honey-coated as Filipino) would marginalize their peoples, turn them into second class citizens. Then World War II came, and with it the anti-American Japanese. English, a socially neutral leveling tongue in use all over the Philippines , with the added bonus of being the international language of commerce and science, was banned, inasmuch as it was the language of the American enemy. In 1942, executive order 44 issued by collaborationist President Jose P. Laurel ordered the integration of Tagalog into the core subjects of the University of the Philippines . In short order, Tagalog became a permanent course in all Philippine schools, and a symbol of anti-Americanism. Tagalistas almost always pride themselves as anti-imperialist. The irony of it is that the imposition of Tagalog (honey-coated as Filipino) was done as a colonial weapon of the Empire of Japan in World War II. It continues to be imposed on the Philippines as an instrument of the internal colonialism of the Empire of Manila.

The Japanese subsidized the creation of Tagalog literature. Whereas during the American period Philippine literature consisted of almost equal parts of Cebuano, Tagalog, and Ilonggo writings, plus a smaller but substantial quantity of Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, and other non-Tagalog works, Philippine literature during World War II and its aftermath consisted of practically pure mono-cultural monolithic Tagalog. The dearth of non-Tagalog literature post-World War II is one of the signs that these languages are dying. Another bad sign is this: Since World War II and the imposition of Filipino, minority peoples are losing territory fast to the centers ethnolinguistic group. For example, Puerto Princessa in Palawan, which used to speak Cuyonon, no longer does, and the Cuyonons (a Western Visayan people) are being confined to a small group of islands off Palawan and will inevitably die out should we do nothing. Likewise, the rich array of native languages of Romblon (including Romblomanon, Unhan, Asi, Odiongon) are dying out. There are numerous other examples. In the still predominantly non-Tagalog areas of the Philippines , Tagalog is increasingly dominating the mass media TV, radio, newspapers. More and more ordinary citizens are being forced by the educational system and the Manila-based Philippine Unitarian political system to regard Tagalog as the Philippine language with the highest social status, and the non-Tagalog languages as socially inferior. Moreover, also since World War II, the percentage population of the nonTagalog peoples of the Philippines has been decreasing rapidly. On a daily basis, non-Tagalog citizens of the Philippines have been transformed to second class citizens, social minorities whose languages and ethnic identities have been marginalized. Percentage of Philippine ethnolinguistic peoples as derived from NSO surveys 1948 19% 25% 12% 12% 1960 21% 24% 11% 10% 1975 23% 24% 11% 09% 1990 28% 24% 09% 09% 1995 29.29% 21.17% 09.31% 09.11%

Tagalog Cebuano Ilocano Ilonggo

Bicol Waray Kapampangan Pangasinense Others

08% 06% 03% 03% 12%

07% 05% 03% 02% 13%

06% 04% 03% 02% 12%

05% 04% 03% 01% 13%

05.69% 03.81% 02.90% 01.01%

While the non-Tagalog peoples of the Philippines are being taught by the educational system that they and their languages are socially inferior (commencing at childhood with the despicable habit of Filipino teachers of fining schoolchildren for speaking in their traditional languages), the Tagalogs themselves are acquiring an air of cultural arrogance. Even in traditionally non-Tagalog Philippine areas, the typical Tagalog now expects that the local people adapt to his or her language and not the other way around. In general, it is the educational system that places unwarranted value to the Tagalog language that is responsible for the cultural chauvinism of Tagalogs and the conquered peoples mentality of the nonTagalogs. The Philippines essentially was in the state of affairs described above by the 1960s, after a generation of Filipinos had grown up brainwashed by their own educational system to regard themselves as Pilipinos only if they could speak Tagalog (honey-coated as Pilipino). Then came the 1973 Constitution. 1973 CONSTITUTION ART. XV, SEC.3. (3) Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages. What is the Pilipino language? This constitutional provision does not refer to one of the existing native languages as in the 1935 constitution. Quezon had justified the selection of Tagalog on the exclusivity of the provision - base on one the existing native languages. This is where the provisions of the 1935 and 1973 constitutions differ. Exclusivity to one language was no longer mandated in 1973. It would follow that the Pilipino official language of the 1973 Constitution shall be

based on and evolved from other Philippine languages as Tagalog can not lay claim as the only one language referred to, as was the case in the 1935 Constitution. Finally we come to the 1987 Constitution

1987 CONSTITUTION ART. XIV EDUCATION. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ARTS, AND CULTURE, AND SPORTS. ON LANGUAGE. SEC.6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, 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 SEC.7. 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 region and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. SEC.8. This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be translated into major regional languages, Arabic and Spanish.

SEC.9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of the Filipino and other languages.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution does not mandate for the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages. Again as in the 1973 Constitution, Tagalog can not claim as the only basis in the development thereof. Apparently there has been a shift from the purely monolingual language ideology of the 1935 Constitution to a national language based on multiple languages ideology in the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions. The National Language Commission was mandated to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. However, thus far the preference for Tagalog over the other Philippine languages has been overwhelming. There has been no convincing result recognizing the non-Tagalog languages. The provision that the auxiliary official languages are the regional languages (Hiligaynon, Bicolano, Cebuano, Ilocano, etc.) and shall serve as an auxiliary media of instruction has not been satisfactorily implemented either. Incredibly, no government agency of the Philippines , at the time of this writing, has ever published a non-Tagalog Philippine language grammar book or dictionary, much less taught it in schools. Ironically, any one who is interested in learning a non-Tagalog Philippine language has to learn it from the grammar books of Christian missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant. Even the Philippine Constitution in English has not been translated to any Philippine language other than Tagalog, although there is a mandate to do so. Another sticky fundamental issue that needs to be openly discussed is the technical feasibility of creating a Filipino language that is to be developed

and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. Why is this a sticky issue? We have to consider that this provision is based on the spirit of respecting the various Philippine languages and the ethnic peoples that speak them. Yet it is also linguistically impossible to develop a single language from all the Philippine languages while retaining each of the languages unique identity, given the differences in each languages grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and accent. Such an artificial language would be a different language from the present Philippine languages, and imposing it on all Filipinos would be in effect imposing a foreign artificially created language on them. Such an imposition is contradictory to the spirit of respecting all the Philippine languages and the ethnic peoples that speak them. In a real sense this provision is technically impossible to fulfill. What other country in the world has a provision such as this? We have to acknowledge that the makers of a Constitution are human and humans have made and could make mistakes, such as creating an impossible-to-fulfill legal provision. Faced with such reality, the only real honest and fair solution is to acknowledge such fact, instead of wasting millions trying to create such an impossible artificial language. These millions of pesos wasted on the Filipino book and media industries come from the taxes of all Filipinos, including non-Tagalogs, yet these taxes are being used in endeavors that favor only Tagalog and that culturally harm the other languages. One obvious recommendation of this essay is for a Constitutional Amendment that would clearly mandate a Multiple Official Languages model in the Philippines , in the spirit of respecting and preserving our traditional indigenous languages and the ethno-linguistic peoples that they define. On the other hand, what can clearly be implemented is the auxiliary official languages provision. Why? Because unlike the Filipino language provision, which pertains to an undefined language that is technically impossible to create satisfactorily without marginalizing and probably killing most of our Philippine languages, our existing Philippine languages are real and clearly defined. Each of them can be taught in our schools and

communication systems even under the present 1987 Constitution. This course of action is highly recommended. All that is to be done is to promulgate enabling laws and budget out the funds to do it. The millions of pesos that are being needlessly spent in developing and teaching an impossible Filipino language, that does not economically benefit and that culturally harms the non-Tagalog ethnic peoples of the Philippines, could be channeled into such an endeavor. Meanwhile English, a necessary language of international science and commerce, a necessary language that keeps our economy afloat, and that has functioned as a neutral leveling tongue in the Philippines for more than a hundred years, could continue as a lingua franca among Filipinos from different ethnic groups. In stark contrast to the present Philippine condition, many nations of the world have begun to abandon the One Nation, One Language policy since World War II by adopting the Multiple Official Languages model. The imposition of a single language on all peoples of a country is increasingly being seen as a harmful vestige of Jacobin ultra-nationalistic 19th century France , which was in the habit of beheading its non-conforming citizens by the thousands.