Speak up, how?

In the olden days, Filipino society was dominated by a powerful but tiny minority who spoke to their kin in Spanish, to their friends in English and to the household help in Tagalog. I am sure that stratification still exists albeit perhaps this minority is now also attuned to the Korean telenovelas of our day.

Today, when you go around the world to shop in street markets where bartering is allowed, one hears a stall owner say these magic words: “You Filipino, come here. Mural lang.” This anecdote tells us that the Filipino Diaspora has succeeded in exposing our national language to the rest of the world.

We owe much to the Filipino language as our badge of unity and bond of cultural identity as more citizens leave for abroad with either a luggage, briefcase or a coin purse of English, depending on one’s education, as a linguistic tool to get by.

Today, our schools are once again facing a major policy shift. Former Tarlac Representative and now, Secretary-Designate of the Department of Education, Jesli Lapus, believes that English must now be the language of choice in educating our youth. In media interviews, the secretary said, “Our competitiveness is being challenged, particularly in our proficiency in the English language, which has been our trademark in the world.”

I respectfully beg to differ. Our trademark has never been just English alone. If you ask foreign employers who were not to the English language born, they will tell you that they like Filipino workers because they can be trusted. Overseas Filipino workers work hard not just for the future of their families but also to sustain the operations of the companies that they work for. It is not all about English, but time-tested values as well.

As a writer who finds herself drawn to advocacy work, I would sit in the middle of a meeting enthralled by the lofty objectives of my colleagues when the discussion thread is cut by a single question – “but yes, these are fine points indeed but who can translate them into Filipino?” At that moment, all eyes would be on me because I am often the only Bulakenya there. Moments like these are proof that because of the sheer size of its adherents, we need to build competence in our own native language as well.

The DepEd Secretary, a man whom I have heard such great things about, believes more commerce shall come when our English improves. I wish it were as simple as that. Broken English may hurt my ears but the inability of some of our policy-makers to communicate their ideas in the native tongue break my heart even more. We are not progressing as a nation not because we do not speak English like someone born in Tennessee does. We are poor because globalization simply favors the rich, no matter what language they were destined with.

By all means, let us improve the way English is taught. Indeed, let us develop a new generation of gifted English speakers and writers who can decide later on whether to be call center agents or owners of establishment that would need call centers to respond to a global market. But let us not do this at the expense of our own native language. We are not behind our neighbors in Asia because our English has deteriorated. Our neighbors don’t even speak English as well as we do. But they are ahead, because they understand each other and are driven by a collective vision to be great.

I say the problem is not so much about language but the current environment. We are so impressed and content with the weight of our words that we believe a press release is in itself a solution. We see threats everywhere – in English movies dubbed in Filipino, in advocacy groups that remind government not to rush seismic changes in the Constitution, in any manifesto that has the words “truth” and “human rights” on them. No wonder foreigners shy away from us. They see so plainly what has become difficult for us to even consider. It is not poor English that keeps them and their dollars away from our shores. It is the unforgiving, suspicious and quarrelsome nature of our political leaders that sends off all these conflicting signals. We are such a great nation with a beautiful, melodic, emotional language and a magnanimous spirit that simply won’t quit. We don’t need a strategy for language. We need a strategy of hope. And that will come once all of us are able to accept our shortcomings and deal with it as a people in a way that would bring us together, not farther apart.

If we speak it, will they come? I don’t think so. No language in the world can hide the political uncertainty of our times, and that simply is the honest truth.