Philippine Linguistic Policy in the Global Context

Abstract

The Philippines suffers an enduring linguistic problem that is not identified as such. Through the 20th century the goal has been to study a foreign language hoping for economical competitiveness in an Asian context. At present, this very context has revealed the fallacy of abandoning the education of the citizens in its own setting, much less pointed out the problem—Diglossia. By using an alien means of communication in the schools, the whole education has been alienated, and the result is a society that does not know their history (in Spanish), much less have a future other than to be manpower in a capitalist market (in English). Highlighting the experience of the multilingual European Union, the paper explains a model for the Philippine setting in the context of the “House Bill 162: The Multilingual Education and Literacy Act of 2010.”