PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure mandating the use of Filipino sign language in all government transactions, schools, broadcast media, and workplaces in a bid to ensure deaf people's "full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Republic Act (RA) 11106, or "The Filipino Language Act", declares Filipino sign language as the national language of the Philippines that should be "recognized, promoted, and supported as the medium of official communication in all transactions involving the deaf."
Duterte's new law directed the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and other government agencies involved in the education of deaf learners to coordinate with each other on the use of sign language.
Under RA 11106, Filipino sign language should be taught as a separate subject for deaf students. Reading and writing of Filipino, other Philippine languages, and English should also be taught to deaf learners.
The learning of Filipino sign language should also be a curricular or co-curricular in teacher education programs, "as deemed appropriate," the new law noted.
In deaf teachers' case, the Professional Regulation Commissioner was tasked to employ "language-appropriate and culture-fair" procedures, an affirmative action measures that would consider the conditions, abilities, and social barriers of the hearing-impaired educators.
The new law also directed the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, with the involvement of the deaf community and other stakeholders, to establish a national system of standards, accreditations and procedures for Filipino sign language interpreting, without prejudice to other forms of communication that respect the deaf person's right to accessibility.
Under the law, sign language should also be the official language of legal interpreting for the deaf in all public hearings, proceedings, and transactions of the courts, quasi-judicial agencies, and otehr tribunals.
RA 11106 thus ordered quasi-judicial agencies and other tribunals to ensure the availability fo a qualified sign language interpreter in all proceedings involving the deaf "to ensure effective access to to justice for the deaf on an equal basis with others and to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants in the legal system."
The Filipino sign language should also be the official language of the Filipino deaf employed in the civil service and in all government workplaces, Duterte's newly-signed law emphasized.
All government offices were instructed to come up with "reasonable" measures to encourage the use of Filipino sign language among its deaf and hearing employees, which include the conduct of awareness and training seminars on the rationale and use of the sign language.
The new law also mandated state and private hospitals and health facilities to take steps to ensure access of the Filipino deaf to health services by providing free provision of sign language interpreters and other accessible materials.
All government agencies, including government-owned or -controlled corporations, were likewise directed to use Filipino sign language as the medium of official communication in all public transactions involving the deaf.
Qualified sign language interpreters and accessible materials should be prvided "whenever necessary or requested," during government agencies' fora, conferences, meetings, cultural events, sports competitions, community affairs, and acitivities.
The Filipino sign language should also be the language of broadcast media interpreting to "guarantee access to information and freedom of expression of the filipino deaf."
The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) were instructed to require sign language interpreters insets, compliant with accessibility standards fr television, in news and public affairs program.
Subsequently, the MTRCB should take steps to promote progressive use of Filipino sign language in all other broadcasts and programming, especially in educational television programs designed for children, in conjunction with the National Council for Children's Television and the DepEd.
Duterte's RA 11106 also created an inter-agency council, which should consist of one representative each from the Commission on Human Rights, Council for the Welfare of Children, the Philippine Commission on Women, the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, and the Filipino Sign Language organizations or institutions.
The inter-agency council was ordered to submit an annual report on the monitoring and implementation of the law to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Duterte signed RA 11106 on October 30, but a copy of the law was released by MalacaƱang only on Monday, November 12. (SunStar Philippines)