Sugar Rush

This is my first entry and I want to introduce myself first before I start ranting about life. =) I am a mass communication student and I love debating. Problem is, I am still a struggling debater so things can get really frustrating. Also, I love culture. So things start from here.

I have Pol. Sci. 51 which is about the Philippine Constitution. If I didn’t enter the debate world months ago, I would have categorized this subject as “just another boring subject”. But thanks to debate, I learned to appreciate it. =)

I was assigned to do a news report today. I was instructed to pick an article from the latest newspaper (in this case, the June 18 issue of The Philippine Daily Inquirer). It was about the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) establishing a center devoted entirely to the different dialects in the Philippines. I have to say that I greatly approve of this project. What better way to appreciate the Philippines more than knowing the different dialects?

 The Philippines is a diverse country. There are over 170 dialects and 87 ethno groups speaking different languages and have different practices. If you are a Filipino, it is absolutely normal for you to know 2 or more languages. In my case, I fluently speak 3 languages: Filipino, English, and Cebuano (arranged in the order of which language I learned first). I am also a frustrated Spanish speaker. I know how to greet people and ask for their names. For the past 2 semesters of my first year in college, all we did was conjugate verbs and recite them in class. I was expecting that we’d learn conversational Spanish but I guess I expected too much.

Anyway, back to the news article. This project, by the way, is in line with Article XIV, Section 17 which states that: “the State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to preserve and develop theircultures, traditions, and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national plans and policies.”

The Philippines, as we all know, is a democratic country. But the definition of a “democratic country” should be widened and include the indigenous communities that make the Philippines’ culture a rich one. And also English, considered as one of the official languages in the Philippines, is going to be further enhanced in this center which is a good thing as we really need English proficiency in order to be globally competitive.

This project is really a big advantage to Filipinos and foreigners alike. As long as one is interested in the Filipino culture, the possibilities are endless. =)