CHED welcomes SC ruling on Filipino subjects in college amid protests

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld the removal of Filipino and Panitikan subjects in the college curriculum, amid continued objection of Filipino language advocates.

CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said the SC’s dismissal of the appeal of Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) “clearly shows” that the commission did not abolish Filipino and Panitikan in the General Education Curriculum.

“Instead, these were transferred to the Senior High School level since these are important building blocks in the preparation of senior high students to be university-ready when they graduate,” he added in a statement.

Last weekend, the SC released its five-page resolution that stood by its October 2018 ruling that upheld the validity of CHED’s Memorandum Order No. 20 series of 2013 which said that Filipino and Panitikan are no longer core subjects.

In junking the petitioners’ appeal, the court held that the petitioners failed to present new arguments to convince the justices to reverse their earlier ruling.

“No further pleadings or motions shall be entertained in this case. Let entry of final judgment be issued immediately,” said SC clerk of court Edgar Aricheta.

De Vera urged all sectors “to respect and abide by the SC decision so that the revised curriculum for various degree programs can now be fully implemented with dispatch by the close to 2,000 Higher Education Institutions.”

CHED said the HEIs “must now exercise their academic freedom to include innovative reforms in their various curricula that may include language proficiency” in different languages.

This includes Ilocano, Waray, Cebuano, Ilonggo, Pangasinan, Bicolano and Asian languages that, CHEd said, “will make graduates regionally and globally competitive.”

Appeal to be filed

Tanggol Wika branded SC’s dismissal of their motion for reconsideration as “cultural genocide,” as it vowed to file another appeal.

“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, a cultural genocide,” the group said in a statement.

The court resolution ordered the issuance of the entry of judgment of the ruling. The SC, however, had reconsidered a final and executor decision in cases where procedural flaws were found. In March 2018, the SC reversed its decision on the illegal retrenchment of flight attendants and stewards of flag carrier Philippine Airlines.