What’s with the fuss about this? Others have their blood boiling saying that it would be a slash in the pride of us Filipinos as they considered it as a “colonial language”. Saying that Spain invaded us and raped our people blah blah and the other “inequalities” of the past that they say in an annoying litany. All I could think about is- It’s a shame that they understand things a bit wrong.

The Spaniards were the most lenient of all former imperialists. (As I have just learned and observed from reading various articles and books). The Brits, Portuguese and others are more brutal in any way. One example of this is the social divisions/ Caste system are more pronounced in British and Portuguese colonies than in the Spanish colonies (especially Phils). Intermarriage is a punishable crime in case of the Brits and Portuguese while the Spaniards even encourage it. All of these “closeness” like a family is often credited to us being Christians as one religion makes us closer together. One British observer in the past (1800s) even said that “Only in the Philippines I could see a Native, a Spaniard and a Chinese all in one table chatting with each other”. His surprise at this scene is just making it evident that such case doesn’t exist in the British Malaya, Hong Kong, India or other part of the former British Empire.

It is annoying if after this, someone will say I have colonial mentality. What the hell? Why would they say such a thing. I regarded all races and languages as equals and if I have only the capacity to learn each one of them I will do so. I never regarded the Spanish as higher than Filipinos nor Filipinos higher than the Spanish. The Anti-Spanish sentiment is a useless piece of feeling. Pride will make us all racist in any way. Anyway, why do they stereotype Spanish people as the cliche white-snobby-rich-upnose people? The Spanish aren’t even that white- They are of the Mediterranean race. (Having a nice bit of tan and dark-haired, Oh sunny Spain.)

Under Section of 4 of the Revised Naturalization Law, the following persons cannot qualify for Philippine citizenship:

Persons who during the period of their stay in the Philippines, have not mingled socially with the Filipinos, or who have not evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions, and ideals of the Filipinos.

Hopefully, the Spanish-speakers must be able to do so. They must be able to mingle socially with the Filipinos, and most of them will speak to a foreigner in English. If the Spanish-speaker is monolingual, they will have a considerably harder time mingling with them. A few of them find our customs, traditions and ideals weird. Luckily, we don’t have the anti-Spaniard festival.

With the combined anti-Spanish propaganda, native hostility towards Spain prior to the American occupation, the bombing of Intramuros and the Nationalistic movement after the war, Spaniards and Spanish mestizos have little room to assert Spanish loyalty unless they become cast out of the mainstream native Austronesian society. Their language has started waning.

By virtue of distance and economics, Latin America is as distant or even more distant than the USA. Our nearest neighbors use English in trade, therefore, it is practical to keep English.

http://immigration.gov.ph/inde​x.php?option=com_content&task=​view&id=206&Itemid=80

>>@ Tomacruz and Alas:

I guess it depends on your definition of an invasion. If by invasion you mean an overtake of one government by another, then it also counts that the Spanish were invaders. You underestimate the fact that Sultanates and the such were also forms of governments. To put it simply: the Philippines was nonexistent, and the Philippine Archipelago was probably nothing more but a collection of tribes and states. This may be. But each state had a form of government. The Spanish arriving and imposing rule on these governments therefore qualifies as an invasion, not of the whole Philippines mind you but of the states that composed the archipelago. That is to say, Spain united the states into a single system: their system. And, eventually the dialects fell inferior to a single medium: Spanish.

Of course our Spanish traditions are part of our identity — in fact, we already speak some Spanish words in our dialect! But to answer the premise: “Should we love the Spanish language” so as to make it a medium? Not quite. Perhaps we should respect it. But practicing it, especially when 40% of the youth still can’t read or write — what is more learn Spanish — is a fantasy of inconceivable proportion. The necessity of re-propagating the extinct Spanish language in our culture is a prey of metaphysics; it’s impossible! Maybe we should know, at the least, that we once spoke Spanish, but to bring it back from its grave… I think the majority will gag at the notion.

And finally your greatest error:

The Spanish made the Filipino people. Should we relegate ourselves to the Spanish tongue therefore? Of course we don’t! I believe your argument is stuck in the past. Cultures change. And much as we want to frown on it, there is really nothing we can do. Moreover, the fact that we don’t speak our predecessors’ language does not make us any less nationalistic. We forget old languages/dialects (or whatever) and learn new ones constantly, just as quickly as the Egyptians seized making pyramids and dug dungeons instead. I am not saying we should forget our inheritance, only that our past is what it is: it is a bygone, we remember and treasure that it is a bygone, but unless national fervor is right, it is a forever a bygone.

Anyway, I do stand corrected on some points and accept the rather “raw” chastening. But for the most part I think we should just focus on the applicability of this idea, and ultimately, the “now”.<<

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@Manny Guevara:

What’s easy to understand in Spanish? To learn the language properly, you need to know numerous conjugations of the verb. Also, preposition usages can be a bit tricky.
Despite the loanwords of Spanish to many Philippine languages, it is not enough to facilitate mutual intelligibility, unless you talk about Chavacano.
If it’s easy, then the Spanish teacher studied your area. Had they came in unprepared, they will waste their time and the Spanish language will be more of a lost cause in that area.

Thank you! Excellent artical by the way!

There are 600,000 – 2,500,000 Chavacano/Spanish Creole 1st, 2nd and 3rd speakers. 5000-10,000 spanish loan words incorporated in the major languages of Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano.

Bottom line, the African-american/black inhabitants in the Unites States expresses thier dark history in English so that ALL Americans can understand the atrocities of slavery. What good would it if they were to express it in the African languages? Likewise, do not relearn and re-officialize the Spanish language thinking that the Philippines will return to it’s colonial status NO! Relearn it to express the atrocities of colonization IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGE! Globally, it can only open a 3rd major region (Asia, N.America and Latin America) for trade and an economic stiumulus the country badly needs. In addition, ALL of the thousands of literature and historical documents, collecting dust in Madrid and Mexico City, can be READ and UNDERSTOOD by native Filipinos, of today, thus coming to thier conclusion whether or not, each individual historical writing is beneficial or not. How will one ever know?

Besides, you yourself don’t have to learn the language. Like I said, those in Zamboanga, Cavite and parts of Cebu, where “Chavacano” is already spoken would benefit “them” and in turn all of the Philippines. French is an official language in Canada, but only less than 20% speak it as a first language. It’s all global political and economic potential not colonial bias or unbiased residue from an era long gone.