¡Adelante!

The Philippines is composed of more than 7,000 islands and is the home of 91 Million Filipinos. Conquest come and go bringing with them their culture and at the same time the local Filipinos adapted them as part of their identity. What made an impact to most of us is the 333-year influence of the Hispanics. They left a religion, a culture that is so diverse that some neighboring countries of the South East cannot fathom or call it Asian because it's neither Asian nor Western.

Yesterday, as I was surfing the net I came across an article that talks about the re-institution of the Spanish language in 17 government schools by June 2009. I know a lot of Filipinos raised their brows about this. Is this another conquest of some sort? I guess not because in the first place it won't be replacing our ever-beloved Filipino languages. The liberation of the Philippines from Spain in 1898 was merely political, the Hispanic soul remained. Don't fret, English will remain in the areas of governance, education and commerce but didn't you know that Spanish was once the lingua franca of the islands before the Americans came? Yes. That means from the late 15th century to 1973 then 1987, it was abolished in all higher education institutions nation-wide. The first Constitution was written in Spanish and was translated to English when the Commonwealth took place.

Tagalog and Cebuano are so assimilated with the Spanish language replacing the authenticity and adapting more than 5,000 words. This calls the birth of our very own Chavacano de Caviteño (Tagalog-based) & Chavacano de Zamboanga (Cebuano-based) and are the only Spanish-based creole in Asia. The Hispanic World heard about these two unique tongues. It even reached the shores of the former colonizer. They realized that they never did a great job of teaching Spanish to the Filipinos back in the old days. Spanish was totally out of the islands in 1987. A penalty will be given for those who sang the Lupang Hinirang (originally in Spanish, Filipinas) in any language other than Filipino. A decline of Spanish speakers in the islands is inevitable.

The article was released last month and it was a confirmation of the President's decision when she had her state visit to the courts of HM Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia. It is a prefered language that can be learn by the Filipinos to compete in the growing global market. Learning Spanish will open trade relations with Latin America and Spain. Accordingly, Spanish is now perceived as an instrument of communication, with 400 million speakers and, even more importantly, as the second language in the United States, an advantage to nurses, doctors, business men & teachers who wished to work in the States. It is also an advantage for those who work in the call center industry. It has become a channel towards new opportunities and a way to climb the employment ladder.

The Philippine government won't be spending much for this. The Spanish Education Ministry and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation will help our Department of Education in the process. They will be sending teachers to help us out. In the pilot project, which will start in June 2009, one secondary school (preferably with a language laboratory) will be chosen in each of the 17 administrative regions. Two classes, each with 35 students, will be set up from among pupils in the final two years of high school. They will receive four hours a week of Spanish classes.

Does learning Spanish make us less of being Filipino? I don't think so. Spanish is starting to be less associated with Spain, the colonial past and the history and literature of the Philippines. What about our Chavacano brothers they have been speaking a tongue which is Spanish-based ever since birth? Rizal was known to be a polyglot he was competent in 22 languages to include Spanish on the list. Does it make him less of being Filipino too? It possesses more advantages than drawbacks. It's a personal choice. We have moved on. Español para todo el mundo! No es uno idíoma para la elite ni para una raza particular. Es para todo los Filipinos tambíen. ¡Adelante! ¡La Republica Filipina!

Loanwords:

• Kumusta? = ¿Como esta? which means 'How are you?'
  

• Di nako ka aguanta (I can't take this anymore) = a conjugate of aguantar, 'To last'

• Asa naman imong laba la kara/labakara? (Where is your face towel?) = Lava la cara, literally means 'You wash the face,' in Cebuano it means face towel

• Manong para! (Sir, you stop!) = a conjugate of parar, means 'To stop'

• Para sa'yo (For you) = para is 'for' in Spanish, e.g. para usted (for you)

• Pwede! (You can) = puede means, 'You can' in Spanish

New Prospects for the Spanish Language in the Philippines, Feb. 26, 2009
Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga

We're currently on no. 20 in the list. Filipino is a demonym but the Filipino culture is a mixture of Hispanic and Asian. I'm surprised we're part of the list of 'Hispanic Countries.'






Statistics were taken from this site.
NationalMaster.com