ANGELES City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. is urging the promotion of Kapampangan as an intellectual language by using it as a medium of instruction at least three hours per week once face-to-face classes resume in the city’s 76 daycare centers.
Lazatin, in a letter addressed to City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) Officer-In-Charge Edna Duaso, is seeking help to reinforce the use of the Kapampangan language in the Day Care centers.
In the said letter, Lazatin reiterated Ordinance No. 426, particularly Chapter 8 Section 17 and 17, which state that “the Angeles City government shall promote Kapampangan as an intellectual language by restoring its rightful place in Education.”
“With Kapampangan as Angeles City’s heritage language and mother tongue, educational establishments at all levels shall, under DepEd (Department of Education) Order No. 74, s. 2009 (Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education) and section 5-F of the K-12 Law (Republic Act 10533) be enjoined, to encourage the use of Kapampangan in official school gatherings, meetings, programs, and celebrations,” the letter added.
Lazatin also said the initiative aims to preserve, safeguard, revitalize and promote the use of Kapampangan in the city.
Lazatin also asked help from media entities such as television, radio and print outlets to raise awareness about the Amanung Sisuan to make sure that the next generation of Kapampangans can carry the city’s culture and language.
It can be recalled that the city council in San Fernando headed by Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting has begun reinforcing the use of Kapampangan, sending out resolutions written in the Ama?nung Si?suan, or mother tongue.
Lazatin on January 2021 has also written a letter addressed to Vega-Cabigting, asking the Sangguniang Panglunsod to help him in his initiative to enforce Ordinance No. 424 series of 2017, establishing Kapampangan as an official language of Angeles City and institutionalizing its use in all sectors, alongside existing national and official languages.