Tanggol Wika protests SC ruling excluding Filipino, Panitikan from core college subjects

An organization of Filipino language advocates on Monday protested the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling excluding Filipino and Panitikan from core college subjects.

Instead of a second motion for reconsideration, Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) filed a "letter of protest" raising "matters of public interest" that they hope will change the SC's mind and stop an "imminent cultural genocide."

Last March, the high court "denied with finality" the motions for reconsideration filed against its October 2018 decision upholding a Commission on Higher Education Memorandum excluding the Filipino language and literature and the Constitution from general education core courses.

The SC ruled that the motions failed to offer substantial arguments and said it will no longer entertain any further pleadings or motions in the case.

In its 22-page letter, Tanggol Wika claimed that the decision is "patently unjust" for causing the job displacements of hundreds of faculty members in dozens of universities, potentially affecting at least 10,000 teachers in the coming months, and depriving millions of students to deepen their learning of the national language.

"As the national language is a strong social glue that binds our archipelago, it is not an exaggeration to say our country's survival is also at stake here," the organization said.

They added that oral arguments should have been held for the case, comparing it with the marriage equality petition that underwent two rounds of oral arguments last year.

"The aformentioned K to 12-related cases are clearly equally transcendental if not more important than the issue of gay marriage, at least with regard to the number of those actually affected," they said.

Tanggol Wika added that CHED Memorandum Order No. 20, Series of 2013 violates the Constitution by "retaining and prioritizing" the English language "while killing Filipino and Panitikan subjects in college"; and by "reversing" the already-initiated official use of the Filipino in the whole education system.

"It is a travesty to allow CHED to make a regressive move on language policy, when the Constitution mandates forward action, continuous progress into the process of cultivating the national language," Tanggol Wika said.

They also said the framers of the 1987 Constitution envisioned that the "intellectualization of Filipino should and can only be fully accomplished in college."

"Eventually, if the Supreme Court fails to reverse its decision, Filipino and Panitikan will not only be killed as mandatory subjects in college, but Filipino will also be murdered as an effective medium of instruction, directly contravening the Constitution's well-defined mandate for Filipino as medium of instruction at all levels of education," they said.

David Michael San Juan, a convenor of Tanggol Wika, said their lawyers opted not to file a second motion for reconsideration in consideration of the "small chance" it would be granted.

He said he believes their protest letter carries convincing arguments and hopes the case could be reopened for oral arguments.

"Ang inaasahan natin, at the very least, ay ipaliwanag nila, sagutin nila ang aming liham, 'yung mga argumentong inilahad namin," he told reporters at a protest rally outside the SC compound in Manila.

"Ito ay pwede nilang i-ignore o hindi na lang pansinin kasi wala na ito sa mga legal na mekanismo, pero ang habol nga natin dito, mairehistro 'yung punto, makumbinsi sila," he said, adding that this would show future generations that advocates fought for the case. —KBK, GMA News