Group to appeal final SC ruling on Filipino, Panitikan

MANILA, Philippines — The Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) yesterday vowed to appeal the already final decision of the Supreme Court (SC) removing Filipino and Panitikan or Philippine Literature from core subjects in college.

The petitioner in the case lamented the SC’s March 5 ruling denying their motion for reconsideration for lack of merit, calling it a “cultural genocide.”

“But the fight is not over yet. We will file a second motion for reconsideration, and we will stop the country’s Supreme Court-sponsored marriage to a foreign tongue, or shall we dare say, cultural genocide,” the group said in a statement.

Filing of a second motion for reconsideration is a prohibited pleading under the rules of court. In rare occasions, however, the court had reconsidered a final and executory decision in cases where procedural flaws were found, like in the case of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines vs. Philippine Airlines.

Tanggol Wika insisted that the SC erred in affirming its decision last October, which upheld Commission on Higher Education’s memorandum reducing the general education curriculum to a minimum of 36 units and also CHED’s Memorandum Order 20 - 2013 removing Filipino and Panitikan as core subjects in college curriculum.

The group reiterated their argument that the SC failed to correctly read Article XIV, Section 3 (1) of the 1987 Constitution, which stated that “all education institutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the curricula.”

“As highlighted in this segment of the Constitution, it is very clear and incontestable that, at the very least, the study of the Constitution should be included as part of the curricula of all education institutions. All means all! All means all education institutions at all levels,” Tanggol Wika claimed.

The petition also accused the SC of committing a mistake in ruling that the CHED “merely transferred these subjects (Filipino and Panitikan) from college to elementary and high school.”

“Transfer means to move from one place to another. It means moving the same thing. As per the Supreme Court’s misinformed conclusion, the Filipino subjects in college are the same with Filipino subjects in elementary and high school – a conclusion that is simply wrong! The Supreme Court should be informed that the Filipino subjects in the elementary and secondary levels dwell on basic grammar and low-level to mid-level discourse/communication,” the group said.

In its five-page resolution, the SC stood by its ruling and ruled that the petitioners failed to present substantive new arguments that would have swayed the justices to change their opinion.

The court also specifically stated that “no further pleadings or motions shall be entertained in this case.”

The SC held that while the Constitution mandates the inclusion of the study of the Constitution, Filipino and Panitikan in the curriculum of education institutions, “the mandate was general and did not specify the educational level in which it must be taught.”

“CMO 20 did not violate the Constitution when it merely transferred these subjects as part of the curriculum of primary and secondary education,” the ruling added.

“It does not limit the academic freedom of universities and colleges to require additional courses in Filipino, Panitikan and the Constitution in their respective curricula,” the SC said.