What’s Filipino in English?

A contestant in a nationalbeauty pageant  more than a year a year ago stirred reactions among millions of Filipinos for having won a major title earning a ticket to represent the Philippines in an international pageant. She gave a grammatically crooked answer delivered in an overtly nervous way.

Those who thought that good command of the English language remains a barometer in winning a major title questioned her victory. They argued that she’d put the country to shame during the international pageant.

On the other hand, advocates and believers of nationalism through the use of the Filipino language vehemently defended her suggesting that questions in national beauty pageants should be in Filipino simply because we are Filipinos.

Does it really entail that the use of our national language makes us true Filipinos and the use of English strips us of our identity?

While it is true that using our national language gives us an indelible Filipino identity, it doesn’t follow that the use of English beaches our patriotic bond.

Employers abroad prefer Filipino workers. Aside from work ethics, Filipinos have shown extensive command of English. Thus, communication poses no impediment nor hindrance in the work environment.

The feats of winning the top plums  of two exemplary Filipino speakers, Patricia Evangelista and Gian Carlo Dapul, in the international English speaking competition affirmed the supremacy of Filipinos in English. Yet, their victory did not pose havoc  to their sense of patriotism and nationalism.

The inclusion of English in the curriculum is intended not to eradicate Filipinism in every Filipino learner. Instead, it is geared towards preparing the Filipinos to be at par with their counterparts in the global arena where competitiveness is the name of the game.

While some people from other countries study abroad to learn English, we Filipinos are born and equipped with the faculties vital in mastering English. Some of us, indeed, teach these foreigners the rudiments and complexities of the universal language.

Our sense of patriotism and nationalism is not threatened by the use of the English language but by the willful predisposition to let go of the Filipino heart because at the heart of every language spoken and heard is the heart.