Pinoy sign language pushed in gov’t transactions

To promote a more inclusive environment in government for deaf and mute people, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) and advocacy groups will uphold the use of Filipino Sign Language (FSL) in government transactions and correspondence.

Last Wednesday, the agency entered into an agreement with the National Coordination Network of Deaf Organizations (NCNDO) and the National Coordination Network for Interpreting (NCNI) to implement provisions in the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 11106.

The law, signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2018, declared FSL as the country’s national sign language and government’s official sign language.

Under the agreement, the KWF shall establish a system where it would teach FSL online to government agencies.

It would also hire four parttime staff working halftime, composed of one hearing interpreter and translator each, and one deaf advocacy consultant and deaf training coordinator each.

They would be given “compensation and internet service allowance (sufficient for video communications)” in fulfilling their jobs.

Also, it would issue policies to ensure the use of FSL, even in conversational form, would be sustained in the KWF, as well as ensure budget support for its partner advocacy groups.

For their part, deaf and mute advocacy groups would serve as sources of information on FSL, as well as data and contact on local deaf communities. When needed, they would also give their inputs or recommendations on matters that would require “linguistic or cultural perspective.”

Meanwhile, the interpreting sector would become KWF’s teachers on FSL. They are supposed to deliver information on sign interpretation based on an established standard, and at the same time their deaf staff would be able to join KWF’s internal business.

The agreement also tasked KWF and deaf and interpreting groups to create a national Registry of Interpreters as well as publications teaching FSL.

Once fulfilled, FSL would be taught by the KWF in the following government agencies: Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and Early Child Care and Development Council; Department of Justice, Supreme Court and Department of the Interior and Local Government; Movie and Television Review and Classification Board; and local government units, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Government Service Insurance System.

By fulfilling RA 11106 and using FSL in government activities, it would be able to recognize the rights and contributions of the Filipino deaf and mute, and at the same time prevent their being discriminated against, according to KWF Commissioner Benjamin Mendillo Jr.

The NCNDO and NCNI thanked the KWF for the partnership, which they described as “historic.”

In an emotional speech, Philippine National Association of Sign Language Interpreters president Catherine Joy Villareal, who spoke and did sign language during the event, said the partnership was a “challenge we gladly accept.”

“The deaf and mute have been left behind for the longest time… I hope all agencies will follow suit,” she said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Philippine Foundation for the Deaf president Carolyn Dagani said she hopes FSL would also be used as well in medical, legal, professional and other public services amid the ongoing struggles of the Filipino deaf and mute for understanding and inclusion.