Protect All Our Philippine Languages

English in the Philippines have long been a continuous debate in our society. Some say it should be completely eradicated while some say we should develop it.

Although I somehow agree with the the author’s sentiments in “Betraying the Filipino language” (from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/opinion/content/366049/betraying-the-filipino-language/story/), I do not agree with them when they said “Tagalog as language then becomes more ‘other’ than English. Indeed, how tragic.” Because the debate should not be between Tagalog and English but rather the Philippine languages and English.

Yes, English is important for a developing country to continually flourish however, focusing on Tagalog as the other language that was compromised is quite questionable. With the Filipinos’ tendency to lean on English, all other Philippine languages are at threat.

It is in this reasoning that Urosa further grounds that Tagalog is not the only language we should protect but rather each every Philippine language. However, we do not encourage the eradication of English. We believe that the simultaneous development of Filipino, as a collection of all Philippine languages, and English is very important for the development of every Filipino.