On Filipino and Panitikan in College
We were informed by fellow advocates two days ago about the Supreme Court notice on our motion for reconsideration (filed in November 2018). The said notice was apparently silently uploaded in the Supreme Court website as early as March 2019 but we – parties to the original Supreme Court petition and movants/filers of the motion for reconsideration – are yet to receive a copy of the said notice.
Hence, we initially intend to just wait for our copy of the formal notice, before issuing a formal statement, knowing all too well that any news about an unfavorable Supreme Court notice will be instrumentalized by enemies of the national language in some colleges and universities.
As a matter of tactics, we initially intended to just wait for the formal notice before issuing a formal statement because we are aware that any delay favors teachers – especially part-time ones – who could easily lose their teaching loads and/ or jobs as soon as some administrators hastily implement the supreme court notice, even at a time when Tanggol Wika can still legally and technically exhaust remedies at the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, we are now compelled to issue this statement, after we have learned that the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino – without consulting the main party to the original supreme court petition – decided to break the news and even announce their press conference on the issue.
We are saddened by the supreme court’s refusal to give course to our motion for reconsideration. We believe that justice has not been served by their refusal to amply hear our arguments. we reiterate that they should have summoned petitioners to an oral argument, rather than issue a ruling on the basis of quick readings of tons of documents that we have submitted.
While the Supreme Court’s notice says that the motion for reconsideration that we filed was denied with finality, we believe that there is ample basis to file a second motion for reconsideration, considering that the high court has entertained many second motions for reconsideration on cases which don’t even have national significance.
Ched and now, the Supreme Court has somehow decided to kill our country’s soul, our people’s capacity to think freely, the mark of our liberty and collective consciousness – as Jose Rizal describes our own languages in chapter 7 of El Filibusterismo, and if it will take a second motion for reconsideration to stop this impending cultural genocide, we might as well do it.
The Supreme Court accepted our main point that indeed, the Constitution’s letter and spirit compel our whole government to support the teaching and propagation of Filipino and Panitikan. However, the Supreme Court claims that the Constitution does not mention in what level/s these subjects should be taught.
Rather than dwell on the mere letter of the Constitution, we call upon the supreme court to broaden its horizon and consider the spirit of the constitution, in deciding on this case.
The Constitution’s mention of the education system means filipino and panitikan should be taught in the whole education system. The very word system refers to an entirety, wholeness of the body or bodies involved/within in it.
We reiterate that the supreme court did not even consider or discuss most of our points. it ruled on mere technicalities (essentially saying: the k to 12 is legal, therefore all policies related to it is legal; filipino and panitikan as subjects in the education system are in fact required by the constitution, but it doesn’t literally mention what level should it be taught, so it must be taught from elementary to high school only).
Within the context of our long colonial past and neocolonial present, we cannot be timid in propagating our own national language and literature. The ravaging tides of globalization and
cultural homogenization will surely wipe Filipino and Ppanitikan out, if we refuse to institutionalize their propagation in our while education system.
This is a choice between our collective survival as a nation, and our collective death as a free country.
A country threatened by foreign powers in its own seas, a country that allows foreign soldiers in its territories, a country wallowing in debts incurred from foreign multilateral financial institutions, a country like ours, can never ever survive as a free country if it surrenders its obligation to maintain its own identity through cultivating its own language and literature.
Hence, we call upon Ched and the administrators of colleges and universities in the whole country to refrain from implementing the Supreme Court’s notice, as Tanggol Wika intends to file a second motion for reconsideration, in an effort to exhaust all remedies. In fact, as mentioned, we are yet to receive a copy of the formal notice!
We call upon the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino to also broaden its perspective and seriously consider revising its current stand of merely supporting Filipino as a medium of instruction, rather than fighting with us for the retention of Filipino and Panitikan as fields of study/subjects too.
Filipino as a medium of instruction will die a natural death absent the cultivation of Filipino and Panitikan subjects in all levels of education.
This is another setback in our education system because under k to 12, Philippine history subject was also removed in high school.
We also call upon Congress to immediately pass House Bill 8954 that mandates Filipino as a mandatory subject in college (filed by ACT Teachers Partylist in January 30, 2019) to help resolve the current crisis. We call upon the Senate to pass its own bill with the same objective. And we urge the Office of the President to immediately issue an order certifying the said bills as urgent.
Hindi pa tapos ang laban. The fight is not over yet.
Let our own language and literature thrive! Stop cultural genocide! Retain Filipino and Panitikan as mandatory subjects in college! Fight for the restoration of Philippine history subject in high school too! Uphold nationalist education!
Ipagtanggol ang sariling wika at panitikan, ipagtanggol ang kalayaan ng bayan! -