Poll lawyer files motion written in Filipino for Buwan ng Wika

To celebrate Buwan ng Wika this August, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Monday filed a poll-related motion with the Supreme Court written purely in Filipino.

"Ang paggamit ng sariling wika ay bilang pagpupugay at pagkilala sa ating sariling wika ngayong ating ipinagdiriwang ang Buwan ng Wika," Macalintal said in explaining the use of Filipino in his motion.

Asked by GMA News Online if his motion was a first of its kind, Macalintal said: "Sa pagkakaalam ko ito lang ang una na fully written in Tagalog."

Asked the same question, SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te said former SC Associate Justice Flerida Ruth Pineda-Romero, who served as a magistrate from 1991 to 1999, had once written a decision purely in Filipino.

In a separate statement, this time written in English, Macalintal said by filing a motion written fully in Filipino, “I hope that I could be an instrument to promote and encourage the use of our own language as a medium of communication not only in the various courts in our country but in all government institutions and agencies."

He also noted that President Benigno Aquino III's speeches are mostly in Filipino.

"If I can do it before the court and if President Aquino, himself, always addresses the public in Filipino, then there is no reason why the use of our Filipino language cannot be fully propagated," Macalintal said.

Buwan ng Wika runs from August 1 to August 30 under the theme "Wika Natin ay Daang Matuwid."

In his five-page motion, Macalintal asked the high court to resolve a May 2012 petition seeking to nullify a Commission on Elections ruling disqualifying Von Rommel Yalong as barangay chairman of N. Amoranto village in Quezon City.

Yalong had a five-vote lead over his closest rival in the 2010 local polls, but he eventually lost his lead after the Comelec invalidated 50 ballots.

Macalintal insisted the case should already be decided upon so it would not be rendered "moot and academic" once new barangay elections take place on October 28.

"Kung hindi kaagad malulutas ang kasong ito ay baka lipasan na lamang ito ng panahon at mawalang saysay ang mahahalagang isyo (issues) o kadahilanan kung bakit isinampa namin ang petisyong ito," the motion read.

Lawyers and judges do not commonly use Filipino inside the court room because legal terms are in English or Latin. Law schools also do not offer subjects that discuss legal terms in Filipino.

In 2009, then-Chief Justice Reynato Puno ordered the use of Filipino in selected courts, like in Bulacan, based on a proposal of retired Court of Appeals Justice Jose de la Rama, the head of the SC committee on linguistics commission at the time.

In his proposal, De la Pena said prosecutors and judges may converse in Filipino when they examine or cross-examine witnesses. — KBK, GMA News