Filipino language advocates to seek SC help vs. new CHED curriculum

An alliance of Filipino language advocates on Tuesday said they will ask the Supreme Court to overturn Commission on Higher Education's decision to keep its new General Education curriculum.

In an interview with GMA News Online, Tanggol Wika convenor David Michael San Juan said they are hopeful that the high court will nullify CHED Memorandum (CMO) No. 20, series of 2013, which removes Filipino from the GEC by 2016.

San Juan, a professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said the group will also continue to lobby for the support of the Congress.

In a statement released Friday, CHED chairperson Patricia Licuanan maintained that they will keep the newly-revised GEC, despite strong opposition from college professors who teach Filipino, as well as supporters of the Filipino language.

The CHED justified its removal of college-level Filipino by saying that the subject would be covered in Grades 11 and 12 under the new K-12 curriculum.

Licuanan said the Filipino language must not only be taught as a subject, but should also be used in teaching.

"The Commission urges the GE faculty as well as those teaching major courses—since the GEC constitutes only 15% of the units taken by the typical college student—to contribute to the intellectualization of our national language by using it," she said.

Licuanan added that "without changing the provision of CMO 20," CHED will be providing incentives to colleges and universities that opt to use Filipino in GE courses.

"It shall also begin discussions with the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) towards a partnership in developing a long-term plan that integrates said effort with the wider higher education reform agenda," she added, noting that this includes providing support and financial incentives for the development of materials in Filipino.

It also assured professors affected in the shift that CHED is working closely with Deped, TESDA, DOLE, and PRC "to mitigate its possible negative impacts, foremost on faculty, while also leveraging this period of transition to upgrade the quality of higher education."

Tanggal Wika?

However, Tanggol Wika, in a statement posted on their Facebook account, said CHED— which they dubbed as Tanggal Wika—has released a decision without addressing any points they have raised nor the position papers they have submitted.

With this, the group challeged CHED to a public debate, and also urged it to release a transcript of its deliberation towards its decision.

The group also called for Licuanan's "immediate resignation, as she has failed to effectively serve the interest and welfare of teachers and the general public."

"We, the president's 'bosses,' challenge Noynoy Aquino, to immediately fire Licuanan as CHED chairperson, and reverse CHED's anti-Filipino decision," she added.

CMO 20-2013 prescribes a new 36-unit GEC for college students that would take effect as early as academic year 2016-2017. Under the revised curriculum, the number of GEC units has been reduced from the current 63 units for humanities and social science majors or 51 units for science, engineering and math majors to 36 units for all students.
 
The current mandatory units for Filipino subjects have been removed from the curriculum as a result of the reduction of the required number of units in the GEC.
 
Aside from Filipino subjects, CHED also removed subjects in English, Math, and introductory courses such as General Psychology and Basic Economics. —Amanda Fernandez/KBK, GMA News