Spanish Language in The Philippines - 21st Century and The Revitalization of The Spanish Language in The Philippines

21st Century and The Revitalization of The Spanish Language in The Philippines

See also: Language revitalization

The 21st century has seen a revival of interest in the language, with the numbers of those studying it formally at college or taking private courses rising markedly in recent years. Today, the Philippine constitution provides that Spanish shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. A great portion of the history of the Philippines is written in Spanish and, up until recently, many land titles, contracts, newspapers and literature were still written in Spanish. Today, Spanish is being somewhat revived in the Philippines by groups rallying to make it a compulsory subject in school.

Republic Act No. 9187 was approved on February 5, 2003 and signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declaring June 30 of every year as Philippine–Spanish Friendship Day to commemorate the cultural and historical ties, friendship and cooperation between the Philippines and Spain. On July 3, 2006, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines created Resolution No. 2006-028 urging the national government to support and promote the teaching of the Spanish language in all public and private universities and colleges in the Philippines. On December 17, 2007, the Department of Education issued Memorandum No. 490, s. 2007 encouraging the secondary schools to offer basic and advance Spanish in the 3rd and 4th year levels respectively, as an elective. As of December 2007, 41,780 Overseas Filipinos (permanent, temporary and irregular) are known to live in Spain adding a bulk to the number of Filipinos who can speak and write in Spanish. As of 2008, there was a growing demand for Spanish-speaking agents in the call center industry as well as in the business process outsourcing in the Philippines for the Spanish and American market. Around 7,000 students were enrolled in the Spanish language classes of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila for the school year 2007–2008. On December 11, 2008, the Department of Education issued Memorandum No. 560, s. 2008 that shall implement the Special Program in Foreign Language on a pilot basis starting school year 2009–2010. The program shall initially offer Spanish as a foreign language in one school per region, at two classes of 35 students each, per school. As of 2009, the Spanish government has offered to fund a project and even offered scholarship grants to Spain for public school teachers and students who would like to study Spanish or take up a master’s degree in four top universities in Spain. The Spanish government has been funding the on-going pilot teacher training program about the Spanish language, involving two months of face-to-face classes and a 10-month on-line component. Clásicos Hispanofilipinos is a project of Instituto Cervantes de Manila which aims to promote Filipino heritage and preserve and reintroduce the works of great Fil-Hispanic authors of the early 20th century to the new generation of Filipino Hispanophones. The Spanish novel of Jesús Balmori entitled Los Pájaros de Fuego (Birds of Fire) which was mostly written during the Japanese occupation was published by the Instituto last June 28, 2010. King Juan Carlos I commented in 2007 that

“

In fact, some of the beautiful pages of Spanish literature were written in the Philippines.

”

Additionally, Former President Gloria Arroyo issued Memorandum Order No. 276, s. 2007 encouraging the teaching of Spanish: Memorandum Order No. 276, s. 2007

MALACAÑANG

Manila

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 276

DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (DepEd), THE COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED) AND THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (TESDA) TO ENCOURAGE THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SPANISH THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY

WHEREAS, the Philippines and Spain share indelible fraternal links through more than three centuries of historic-cultural interaction between their peoples;

WHEREAS, the Spanish language is an essential part of the historical and cultural legacy of Spain in the Philippines;

WHREAS, the Spanish language, an official language of the United Nations, is the world’s fourth most commonly spoken language, with over 400 million people speaking it as a native language or a second language;

WHEREAS, Spanish is the language whose usage has had the highest growth in recent years and is now the third most common language on the Internet after English and Chinese;

WHEREAS, Spanish-speaking consumers are the fastest-growing market segment in North America, including the United States of America where the buying power of the Hispanic community is expected to reach US$1.2 trillion by 2011;

WHEREAS, knowledge of and proficiency in the Spanish language hold practical advantages for Filipinos particularly in making them more competitive and opening new opportunities for Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to encourage the teaching and learning of the Spanish language throughout the country.

This Memorandum Order shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 29th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Seven.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

By the President:

(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA

Executive Secretary

During her visit to the Philippines in July 2012, Queen Sofia of Spain expressed her support for the Spanish language to be revived in Philippine schools.

On September 11, 2012, saying that there were 318 Spanish-trained basic education teachers in the Philippines, Philippine secretary of the Department of Education Armin Altamirano Luistro announced an agreement was in process with the Chilean government to train Filipino school teachers in Spanish. In exchange, the Phillippines will help the Chileans with their English fluency.