It was precisely this curious state of the country's language that Ramon Magsaysay awardee F.

For every Gregorio Brillantes that muses on the use of English in Philippine literature, there is a Virgilio Almario and Bien Lumbera championing the national tongue. In Congress, there are battling bills that take opposing sides when it comes to the language and education debate: House Bill 5619, the Consolidated English-Only Bill, aims to strengthen and enhance the use of English as the medium of instruction, while House Bill 3719, the Multilingual Education and Literacy Bill, looks towards Filipino or the regional/native language as the teaching language in all subjects from preschool to Grade 3.Įven the country's bookshelves reflect a similar divide.įor every novel, short story collection, and book of poetry penned in Filipino, there is an equal number of English works penned by Filipino writers. However, there are still plenty of debates to be had whenever the subject of the national language comes up - especially the role of language in education and culture. Ramos declared the month of August as 'Buwan ng Wika' back in 1997, the country has consistently celebrated in its schools and institutions through various contests extolling the virtues of the national language. One of the country's most esteemed novelists ponders on the state of the national language.Įver since former President Fidel V. Sionil Jose admits that writing in a language not his own does not afford him the same range of expressions and emotions that his native tongue can give him.

Tagalog tongue twisters filipino