Monday, February 18, 2008 Speak Out: Gullas' English bill By Ted Lugtu
FINALLY, the problem on English proficiency in our country has reason to expect a reversal from its downward plunge as reported in various media.
In addition to the Villafuerte bill referred to in previous commentaries, Cebuano lawmaker Rep. Eduardo R. Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) has now come up with his own version (HB 305) that reportedly parallels those of Rep. Raul del Mar’s (Cebu City, north district) separate bill along the same lines.
Gullas actually filed HB 4701 that was approved on third and final reading in the 13th Congress in September 2006, according to news reports, but circumstantially underwent delays for various reasons.
Once enacted, HB 305—like the Villafuerte version—will eventually supersede the 1974 DepEd order that implements the bilingual teaching policy in all schools.
Unfortunately, the bilingual policy has resulted in the unexpected confusion that followed whereby too many subjects taught in public schools went the Tagalog route instead of going such way “only when taught as a subject” according to the Villafuerte version.
Consolidating the three parallel proposals will likely iron out any discrepancies that might create stumbling blocks in Congress. For one, using English exclusively as medium of instruction in our schools, as proposed by Gullas instead of adding Tagalog “only when taught as a subject” per the Villafuerte bill, may well be the source of unnecessary opinion differences among members of Congress.
Tagalog, after all, is our lawfully considered national language. Given its specified space in the curricula, as envisioned in the Villafuerte bill, is obviously the better option.
