Order prescribing English as second language opposed

A group of Filipino writers, academicians and linguists yesterday filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking it to stop the Department of Education (DepEd) from implementing Executive Order 210, which prescribes English as the country’s second language that should be taught to children starting with the First Grade in both private and public schools.

In a 24-page petition, the petitioners belonging to the Wika ng Kultura at Agham Inc. (WIKA) led by noted playwright and critic Isagani Cruz, stressed that the EO is "anti-poor and alienates Filipino school children from their Filipino heritage."

The petitioners also asked the High Court to nullify EO 210 (Establishing the Policy to Strengthen English as a Second Language in the Educational System), that was promulgated on May 17, 2003 by President Arroyo and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. The petitioners also asked that DepEd Order No. 36, which is the implementing rule of the EO, also be scrapped.

"The petitioners which are associations of linguists, scholars and teachers who are actively engaged in restoring ‘our damaged culture’ are directly injured by the challenged orders because the use of a foreign language as a medium of instruction has negative repercussions on national identity, love of country, and pride in being Filipino," they said.

DepEd Undersecretary for plans and programs Vilma Labrador, for her part, said that EO 210 did not really result in DepEd’s favoring English over the national language.

"Wala naman tayong pinapaboran na linggwahe," Labrador told The STAR.

Labrador said that despite the implementation of EO 210 Filipino was still being used in teaching in public schools.

However, Labrador pointed out that the WIKA petition could provide an opportunity for the Supreme Court to study the issue of medium of instruction, and that it was best to wait for the court ruling.

WIKA also maintained that the use of English alienates pupils from their own cultural heritage and may produce a generation of young people who have no cultural values.

According to the petitioners, EO 210 and DepEd Order No. 36 are "unconstitutional" as they blatantly violate Article 14 Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution which prescribed Filipino as its national language and should be sustained as the official medium of communication and as language of instruction in the country.

Aside from being taught in the First Grade, EO 210 requires English as the medium of instruction for the subjects English, Science, and Mathematics from at least the Third Grade.

In addition, the EO states that English shall be used as the primary medium of instruction in all public institutions at the secondary level.

Filipino, the EO said, should only be used as medium of instruction in the learning areas of Filipino and Araling Panlipunan.

"The provisions of EO 210 and DepEd Order No. 36 that English shall be taught as a second language starting with the First Grade violate the above-quoted provisions of the Constitution since Filipino is actually only the second language in non-Tagalog areas. The EO thus subverts the present status of Filipino in non-Tagalog areas, and violates the constitutional injunction that regional languages shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction," the petitioners said. – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Abigail Orencia and Maricor Lawig