SC urged to reconsider ruling on removal of Filipino, Panitikan as core college subjects
MANILA, Philippines— The Alyansa ng mga Tagpagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino on Monday urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling upholding the removal of Filipino and Panitkian as required subjects in college.
Tanggol Wika submitted a letter to Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin raising “matters of public interest” in a bid to have the SC's ruling in May reversed. The tribunal upheld the validity of Commission on Higher Education Memorandum Order No. 20, series of 2013, which said that Filipino and Panitikan are no longer core subjects.
The group said they initially wanted to file a second motion for reconsideration but opted to submit a letter instead.
Oral arguments
The group said in its letter that the SC should have conducted oral arguments on the case at hand as all K to 12-related cases “are transcendental in nature.”
K to 12 is the school curriculum that the government said is needed to make Filipino students competitive and employable after senior high school.
"The case at bar is a petition against top government authorities violating constitutional language and education provisions," they said, noting that the SC held oral arguments on a petition questioning the Family Code for barring same-sex marriages.
Tanggol Wika: Jobs at risk
They also called the court’s attention that 10,000 jobs are at risk of being displaced due to the decision.
The decision will also “deprive millions of students of their chance and opportunity to expand and deepen their ability to use the national language in a more intellectual way, in all disciplines and at higher levels of discourse,” Tanggol Wika said.
READ: 10,000 teachers may lose jobs due to removal of Filipino, Panitikan
“As the national language is a strong social glue that binds our archipelago, it is not an exaggeration to say our country’s survival is also at stake here,” the letter further read.
They added that if the SC would not reverse its decision, “Filipino and Panitikan will not only be killed as mandatory subjects in college, but Filipino will also be murdered as an effective medium of instruction, directly contravening the Constitution’s well-defined mandate for Filipino as medium of instruction at all levels of education.”
The latest court resolution ordered the issuance of the entry of judgment of the ruling and said that no further pleading or motion related to the case will be entertained.
The SC, however, has reconsidered final and executory decisions 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.
RELATED: Supreme Court: No illegal retrenchment of PAL cabin crew
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