The Revival Of The Spanish Language As Subject In All School Levels Is Beneficial And Favorable To Filipinos
B y Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.
The plan and the decision of the Department Of Education to revive the Spanish language as subject in all school levels-elementary, high school and college-is beneficial and favorable to Filipinos. Imparting to our forefathers the language of Spain during Her era of power is part of the good things that our colonizer was doing in the past. Aside from the constructions of big cathedrals in various part of the country including those in Ilocos Norte. Our forefathers have also acquired some traits that became useful which were integrated into our inherent culture.
Although it cannot be denied that some friars have committed atrocities against the Filipinos in general. However, we, the latter generations that did not experience any kind of good and evil done by the Spaniards during their almost 400 years of dominance and supremacy, should not concentrate only on the negative side of the Spanish colonization. We should give more weight on the good things that they have done to our country than their wrongdoings.
Though our forefathers could not forget some of their atrocities, we, who have only learned our past through reading history books, should be more forgiving in our present dealings with the latter breed and generations of the Spanish people.
Recalling an article entitled “Quezon’s Mexican Tour” by historian-writer and Ateneo professor Ambeth Ocampo, PDI, Oct. 13, 2010 issue, I’ve noticed that the very article that I was reading was a quote from the narration of the First Filipino Commonwealth President Manuel L.Quezon on his trip to Mexico in April 1947.
In his article, Quezon narrated how he was welcomed by the Mexican people, also a colony of Spain, and whose people speak the Spanish Language. Everywhere he went he was cheered. He was well-known to the people of México, not only as a representative of the Filipinos, but as the President as well.
He sincerely believed that because at that time majority of educated Filipinos can speak the Spanish language, he considered that, with a sense of history, the medium of our former colonizer has provided us and our country a linkage to all of the Latin-American countries. Nevertheless, what happened after several decades was the opposite: the educated Filipinos during the previous decades have decided to junk the Spanish language by abolishing it as a subject in all school levels.
This must be the reason why when I started studying in high school at the Immaculate Conception College(run by the Columban Orders) in Ozamis City as a working student, we have no longer Spanish subject. But I was able to choose one of an “old’ soft-bond books on Spanish language mingled with other books in school during vacation period.(Nevertheless,during our Alumni Homecoming in Dec. 1993,it was announced that ICC will have an institutional academic partnership with De La Salle University the following year until 1998.Latest development has it as revealed to me by my schoolmate Rona Marilao of Gango,Ozamis City that between 1998 and 1999 the ICC-DLSU partnership has stopped existing and the school is now called De La Salle University.This was after an agreement was reached among the members of the Board and the rein of stewarship and management was entirely turned over to the De La Salle Brothers.Our Alma Mater,she said, has now new additional school buildings constructed by the De La Salle Brothers.)
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As one of the working students in high school (we were 25 working students at that time).Some of us would have to do some “repair” of many books whose covers were either loosen or destroyed by several years of usage by high school students who rented those books. Thus some old books that have duplication were given to us by our nun-supervisor Sister Mary Remedios.One of the “old” ones
was a book on Spanish grammar with some Spanish sentences translated into English. This was aside from other books like poems, short stories and a book of miscellaneous articles (written by various authors including that of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s) which I have taken from its file.
I have read those Spanish sentences and I did not know if I read it right. I read it verbally and just tried to insticntveily pronounced any Spanish words according to my perception. I have read that book from time to time during my spare time. And I preferred to hear the sounds and its intonation the way Spanish speakers spoke this language, even though I do not understand most of what it means.
As a kid in the 1950s my maternal grandmother, obviously a Spanish mestiza by her looks spoke in Spanish in some occasions with her younger brother Jose, whose compound in Ozamis City was where we were living together with some cousins, uncles and aunts. I just have this deep penchant of the Spanish language despite of the fact that I could not comprehend most of its words and sentence constructions. I like to listen also to Spanish songs. What drives me to like the Spanish songs is that aside from its word pronounciation, the tunes and the melodies are fascinating and pleasing to my ears.
Occasionally, my mestiza grandmother, whose root is from Ilocos Norte, would have outburst her anger in the Spanish language. Since I could not understand the whole thing she was uttering, I just keep my silence. When she calmed down I would asked her what was the meaning of what she was saying in the Cebuano language. And that’s the only time that I would understand what she was bursting about.
Her younger brother Lolo Jose, however, talked less in the Spanish language. He would also translate some of what he said to me even without my asking.
Recently, a monthly religious magazine, an official organ of a well-known religious organization originating from the Philippines has included Spanish section in it. The articles contain are the fundamental doctrines of the Church that are solely based in the Holy Scriptures. This famous magazine that published both English and Tagalog articles are available in almost all libraries in major cities of the country like in Davao City, Cebu, Metro Manila, etc.Nonetheless, this magazine can also be borrowed from the members of the Church in various localities/districts in the country. Its religious articles are worth reading, especially for the true seekers of Truth.
The writer of the Spanish article is a Church’s Minister of the Gospel. He was a Filipino who writes in the English language as well. He was one of those Ministers of the Gospel chosen by the Church Administration to be assigned outside the Philippines. They took up lessons in the Spanish language to prepare themselves for a foreign mission in the Latin-American countries, like Brazil, Mexico, Spain, etc. With their newly-acquired knowledge, they become proficient in speaking the Spanish language which makes them easy to communicate with the people in the Latin-American continent. Mastering the Spanish grammar, its syntax and sentences constructions, this Minister of the Gospel can now write and speak in the Spanish language with ease. Students of the Spanish Language can add this religious magazine as another material for reading in the Spanish language.
Again, reviving the Spanish language as subject in all school levels is good, beneficial and favorable to the Filipinos who want to become multi-lingual speakers. Being multi-lingual speakers have a great edge over/against the other nationalities who only want to speak in their own languages.
It is also an added boost to the competitiveness among Filipino Professionals who want to seek jobs and work/serve in other countries of the world. Speakers in the Spanish language always fascinate my senses, particularly those Spanish songs(solos and duets) that are now rarely played on the airwaves.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)
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