Espino turns over first Phl orthography primer to DepEd

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Gov. Amado Espino Jr. turned over to Department of Education (DepEd) officials the Pangasinan Orthography Primer as the highlight of the Pangasinan Tourism Month celebration here last Monday.

“We are the first in the entire country to have our Pangasinan orthography so that our local teachers can teach their students our own language the right way,” Espino said.

He said the provincial government commissioned this first attempt to formulate the orthography of the Pangasinan language, and it was done on purely voluntary basis by the writers of Ulopan na Pansiansiay Salitan Pangasinan (Group to Perpetuate the Use of Pangasinan Language), and a team of academicians, linguists, and a cultural worker, under the official guidance of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino.

Espino said this is part of instilling in students their love for their province and in support of the DepEd’s program to use the vernacular in teaching various subjects under the K-12 program.

Through the Pangasinan orthography, he said proper diction and spelling, among others, are taught.  – Eva Visperas

Espino has been espousing various programs geared toward love for the province and the local language.

Fr. Immanuel Escano, commissioner of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission and member of the committee that created the primer, said this would be useful to teachers in using the mother tongue as implemented now by the DepEd.

Escano said it is understandable that teachers encounter difficulties in the initial use of the Pangasinan language and its orthography, like in any undertaking in its initial stage, “because no one thought about doing it before.”