Why not Spanish?

Looks like our local educational system is opening its doors to more languages like Korean. Hardcore K-Pop fans were delighted to hear the news!

But why prioritize Korean and Mandarin? Why not Spanish? Our old lingua franca?

All my siblings had mandatory Spanish. It was removed from standard curriculum when I started tertiary education.

With its contribution to our local languages, why was it removed as an “official” Filipino language in the Cory Constitution? Whose idea was it?

The late statesman and journalist from Bulacan, Blas Ople, who took part in drafting the 1987 constitution, tried to salvage it from being written off but was thwarted by hispanophobic colleagues.

While he doesn’t speak it fluently he was a staunch defender of the old lingua franca. His efforts was not forgotten by the Spanish speaking community. He was awarded the Premio Zobel, the country’s oldest literary award, in 1993.

In his Panorama column in 1992, he shared his experience during the crafting of the Constitution of 1987:

“I should reveal this now. In the Constitutional Commission of 1986, I fought until the end to have Spanish retained in the new Constitution as an official language, together with Filipino and English. I wanted at least an explicit recognition of Spanish as such a language until the wealth of historical material in our archives, most of this in Spanish, can be fully translated into English or Filipino.

But the real reason was that I wanted to preserve our last formal links with the Iberian world, which includes most of the countries in Latin Américas with a population of about 400 million. I remember Claro M. RectoClaro M. Recto’s sentimental journey to Spain, which was aborted by a heart attack in Rome. If we lost that final strand of solidarity with the Spanish-speaking world, we, too, would never get to Spain.

It was as though both sides had agreed on a policy of mutual forgetfulness.

The “radicals” in the Con-Com strongly advised me not to press the provision on Spanish, because this would have the effect of reopening other controversial issues in the draft charter. It could delay the framing of the Constitution beyond an acceptable deadline.

My worst fears have been realized. We have expelled ourselves from the Iberian community of nations. The rift is final, and will never be healed.

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A few weeks ago, I saw an “Inquirer Radio” interview of Guillermo Gomez Rivera. An octogenarian, he remains the most active advocate of bringing Spanish back in our schools. Like Ople and his grandfather, Guillermo Gomez Windham, he won the Premio Zobel in 1975.

Another proponent of the language that I respect is the Filipina writer based in Chile, Elizabeth Medina. She now makes short YouTube lectures on Filipino history and culture. The last one I saw was about “Asuangs” (bruho)! In it she translates the accounts of Padre Francisco Ignacio Alzina about the fabled night creature.

Those who wants to improve their Spanish can benefit from her lectures. She speaks in Spanish and translates it in English and Tagalog. Must be her ulterior motive—imparting Filipino history while teaching Spanish—a matar dos pájaros de un tiro!

To continue to deny Spanish as a Filipino language is counter productive. We have thousands of words that came from it. We have centuries of history with it and it has economic value. Just ask Filipinos working as Spanish language support in BPOs.

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My first Spanish lessons came from “Mommy,” our Spanish-American neighbor. She spoke often in English and Tagalog but she speaks Spanish sometimes, curses and sings in it too. At a very young age I heard such words as “urbanidad,” “amor propio” and “palabra de honor”. And, “hijo de puta,” “puneta,” “cabron” and “tarantado”! She loves Julio Iglesia’s “Hey” (Spanish version). And yes, I’ve got it memorized.

When Spanish was vilified in school it never got to me. Why? Because I was taught that it’s a well where many of our great traditions came from. I knew it was not something I should fear or hate.

I am sure many Spanish advocates in the country today had grandparents who shared with them wonderful stories about it. We all should consider ourselves fortunate that we heard it from the last generation that spoke it as a Filipino language.

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