THE City Government of Zamboanga has produced and distributed reference materials on the history and usage of Chavacano for students and the general public.

The distribution of the materials is in line with its efforts to preserve and promote the Chavacano language.

Dr. Generao Yap-Aizon, assistant city administrator and special assistant to the city mayor, said it is part of the implementation of Zamboanga City's program for the culture and the arts, which included the production of a Chavacano orthography, school textbooks under the K to 12's mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), and other reference materials.

Aizon said Zamboanga City is one of the few cities who were able to produce and provide textbooks to the Department of Education for the MTB-MLE with the "Aprende Kita Chavacano" textbooks, a primer on the Chavacano language for Grade 1 to 3 students. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)