Yet, we are being bombarded from radio and TV that the Philippines has just proudly celebrated its first centennial of freedom from Spain at a time when the Filipino is being enslaved and pushed around, both linguistically and economically, even in his own language and in his own country. So, what else is new?
28 August 2001 emanila*pilipino
Editor’s Notes: Although this article was published more than seven years ago, we believe the issues raised in this commentarty are as current as they were when the article was first published.
About Guillermo Gomez Rivera
do you know that no single word having one spelling. Why honor in spanish has different sound with english? pls bear in mind that every nation has its own way of spelling a word..
art – You’re quite right. Like “honor” and “center” are spelled “honour” and “centre” (respectively) in British-influenced countries like Australia. Thanks for your comment.
We endorse this full article. We would like to add that the reason why it was easier to impose English on Filipinos was “Geography”. They were so far away from America (a continent), there would have been more pressure by the neighbors to RETAIN Castilian (it’s not “Spanish”) had The Philippines been here in America with us.
For those foes who use the incredibly dull US Census Statistics for The Philippines (that “only 1% spoke Castilian”, contrary to what Ford reported to the Congress), there is this: Mexico was in the same linguistic situation, and so was Paraguay, etc etc… It was the DESIGN of the Founding Fathers of our American countries, that had Castilian as the Official Language.
From every perspective, what the USA did in The Philippines / Guam / Marianas / Palaus and the rest of the former Spanish Pacific, was a Cultural Holocaust, we just hope that this can be fixed even if it takes decades. Hey, it’s only been 110 years that they invaded The Philippines. Nevertheless, the 333 yr-old Hispanic Archipelago remains strongly Hispanic in all its cultural manifestations.
The Spanish language should be the lingua franca of the Philipine archipelago. It is easy to learn for filipinos since the local dialects have already thousands of Spanish words imbedded in its language.
Additionally, the filipino culture is a highly hispanicized culture having more in common with latin americans than our asian neighbors. Therefore the Spanish language actually is a better fit for purposes of national identity as it relates to the preservation and promotion of the filipino character.
The English language should be considered the foreign language in the Philippine archipelago.