P-Noy tells experts national language should unite our nation

MANILA, Philippines - More than 200 teachers and supervisors in Filipino, scholars, writers, and representatives from different public and private institutions attended the first ever National Congress on Language organized by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) last Aug. 19-21 at Leong Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City.

President Aquino opened the congress by exhorting the academics and experts to make the national language a unifying agent for the nation instead of dividing it.

Selected speakers also took up the politics and sociology of language in their lectures.

Discussed on the first day were the state of the Filipino language in the time of the internet and the digital age, social media, and the state and strategies on the teaching of the Filipino language to foreigners and Filipinos as a second language.

On the second day, lecturers discussed the languages of government, business, media, as well the language of Islam. The third day saw lectures on the languages of law and Christianity.

The congress came up with five resolutions:

• encourage the designation of a system of teaching Filipino to Foreigners.

• campaign to retain the Filipino course in colleges and universities so that they will not run out of teachers in Filipino in different levels.

• campaign for the use of the Filipino language as a medium of instruction for teaching in schools nationwide.

• encourage the use of Filipino as a platform for information technology.

• encourage the use of Filipino in propagating religion in Filipinas.

Despite the onslaught of tropical storm Maring and the rain and flooding brought by the habagat or monsoon wind, the Congress went on and the regional representatives diligently attended the sessions.