One of the greatest problems that the Philippines must solve
is the question of language. An independent nation for which the Philippines is
aspiring to be must have one and only one official language. Up to the present
time, English and Spanish are used interchangeably or simultaneously.
Assurances have been given that the English language will finally become the
official language of the people of these islands, the promise having been made
many years ago. However, that promise has not as yet been redeemed. It is,
however, reassuring to know that while the promise has not yet been fulfilled,
no backward step has been taken in this connection. The millions of children in
the public schools will be more than glad to learn that Senate President Quezon
favors no language other English as the official language for the Philippines
as shown in the Speech he delivered before the Inter-Alumin Union on March 12
which partly reads:
“I
have just read your constitution and found that one of the things for which you
are working is to have the English language declared as the only official
language in the Philippine Islands. I have been for the proposition long before
I knew English, and I really think that this is not a debatable question. It
has been settled long ago by our Government and by our own people. When it has
been decided that the English language should be the language to be taught in
the public schools, that was tantamount to a definite declaration on the part
of the Government that English will ultimately be adopted as the only official
language of the Philippine Islands. For it would have been a waste of money to
teach a language that could not be used by the men and women who have to go
through many years of schooling to learn it. It would not have been only a
waste of money but unjust to these young men and women. Of course, the English
language has to be the official language of the Philippine Islands. It is out
of the question to think of any of our native dialects for this purpose because
we could not come to an agreement as to which one would be adopted. As a
Tagalog I will fight to the end of my life for the adoption of the Tagalog, and
Mr. De Leon, your President, will try to have the Ilocano as the official
language. Besides, our native dialects have not the literature necessary for
the education and intellectual training of our youths: If we have to pick up a
foreign language English is the only language. It is the international language
in the Far East. I remember when I first left the Philippine Islands in my trip
to Russia — that was in 1909 and at the time I could only speak the Spanish
language — from the time I landed in Hongkong until I met the first Filipino in
Paris I could not understand anybody whom I met. And that trip made me learn
English.
“On one occasion I sat on a table and intended to order for some eggs. I
picked up the menu and pointed at something in it. I thought it was eggs but
they gave me fish. So I was right there and then convinced that if I want to
eat eggs and not fish I had to learn English.
“But there are some more important reasons. One of the aims of this
society, as I learn it tonight, is to preserve democratic institutions, and, my
friends, the English language is the best means of preserving democratic
institutions in the Philippine Islands. I do not want to be more unpopular than
I am now with the Spaniards and therefore I am not going to say what could be
learned thru the Spanish language of liberty. I shall simply say that if you
want to have a clear notion and conception of liberty and freedom you have to
get it through English literature.
“But there is another reason which at this juncture is much more
important from our point of view than all the others. You know that we are
having a very hard time in convincing some Americans that we should have an
independent Government. Those who are opposed to Philippine independence, as I
have said on various occasions, may be divided into two or three classes. I am
not going to describe now these different classes but I simply want to say that
I think we can meet all of them through some kind of argument. When they see
already that the hands of ate are pointing to the day when the separation must
take place they will at least want to see that something permanent has been
left here by the American people. And that should appeal to the pride of the
American nation, to their sentiment — which according to Professor De Joya
governs the world.
It
would be a source of satisfaction and pride on the part of the American people
to know that the time spent here by the United states has not been lost, that
something has remained and will remain in the Islands forever. It would appeal
to the American nation to know that even after their flag has been pulled down
that American institutions and American ideals have become the heritage of the
Filipino people. They will be assured of this when they know that the English
language has been adopted by the people of the Philippine Islands as their
official language. This is important that when I was a Resident Commissioner in
the United states, in my travels I met people who discussed with me Philippine
independence and generally at the end of the discussion they would ask: “What
would be your language? What would be taught in your schools when we leave
you?”. They of course know that English is now being taught in the schools. I
invariably answered that it would be the English language. So I say, that the
adoption of English as the official language of the Philippine Islands is a
good means of securing Philippine independence.
Revista
Filipina
April-May 1921
