EDITORIAL - An irrelevant proposal

There is a proposal filed at the Cebu Provincial Board that requires schools across the province to use the Cebuano dialect as medium of instruction. The proposal, authored by sixth district Board Member Arleigh Sitoy, was the subject of a public hearing last Friday.

Sitoy's move, which mandates the use of the Cebuano language from pre-school to Grade III, did not come as a surprise. He has long been a supporter of the drive to promote the local dialect.

In fact his father, Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, is one of the prime movers of Lubasnong Dagang Bisaya or more popularly known as LUDABI, a group that advocates and promotes the use of the Cebuano dialect not only in Cebu but in Cebuano-speaking areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

Arleigh may have the right intention. In fact, many would say his move is a noble one worthy of support of Cebuanos from all walks of life. 

But many would also find his proposal irrelevant in this time when there's only one language that dictates the pace of the world as countries march towards the island of globalization.

The board member may find it hard to accept, but his move would only give the Cebuano children a hard time learning English, the universal language, later in elementary. 

There's no cause for Arleigh to worry that the Cebuano dialect will lose ground to the English language in schools if his proposal fails. The Cebuano language will never lose to the English language in its turf.

The English language has become the name of the game in various fields from trade to sports to international relations to education. It has broken all barriers as countries become united under the banner of globalization.

The reason why the Koreans and Japanese are invading Cebu to study the English language is that they do not want to be left behind in the globalization race. Their being economically successful has nothing to do with their embracing their native tongues while establishing multinational corporations that are now dominating the world.

They wanted to learn the English language to sustain their global presence. That is something Filipinos should learn.