Cony-NO is a personal advocacy that is led by Rene Antonio Vinco, a 4th year AB Communication student at the University of St. La Salle.
This advocacy tackles multilingualism, specifically the effects that happen when a language like English is favored and the effects it can have on the fluency of students' skills in Hiligaynon and Filipino.
“This advocacy is personal to me, and I wanted future communicators to not just have good skills in English but also be fluent and have a love and appreciation for our languages here in the Philippines ” says Vinco, the project head of Cony-NO.
The name Cony-NO is derived from the slang word Conyo, in which one combines Filipino and English in a sentence and pronounces it in a very distinct way.
Cony-NO is to remove the negativity surrounding using different languages in the same sentence, but also represents being able to communicate properly.
In line with his advocacy, on April 18, a Baybayin workshop was held at Bacolod Tay Tung High School for students who participated in language clubs.
This was done in collaboration with the Youth Empowering Youth Initiative Inc. and served as a way for the students to appreciate the roots and culture behind this language.
For future plans, Cony-NO aims to form smaller communities for students who struggle with Filipino and Hiligaynon, to not just aid them in their studies but also provide a safe space where they can learn together without prejudice for accents and grammar. (PR)