Ruth Elynia Mabanglo of the University of Hawaii (right) receives a
plaque of recognition from President Aquino, with Foreign Secretary Albert del
Rosario and CFO chair Imelda Nicolas looking on. -- Malacañang Photo
By ANNA LEAH SARABIA
IN THIS age of globalization, nothing could be more difficult for a
Filipino living abroad than to work for the preservation of one’s own language
and culture.
But Dr. Ruth Elynia S.
Mabanglo is not so easily discouraged.
As a multiawarded poet and playwright, her love for the Filipino
language has found meaning and it remains a calling.
The first woman to join the Hall of Fame of
the Don Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature, Ruth has made it her mission to
promote Filipino worldwide.
Ruth was in Manila recently to pick up a plaque from President Aquino
as a 2012 Presidential Awardee for Filipino Individuals and Organizations
Overseas, in the “Pamana ng Pilipino” category.
It is conferred on Filipinos
overseas who have brought the country honor and recognition through excellence
and distinction in the pursuit of their work or profession.
She has published six books of poetry and several scholarly works
included in anthologies and often cited in scholarly journals.
In 2008, the De La Salle University Filipino
Department convened critics and scholars for a monthly forum on her works, the
“Ruth Elynia Mabanglo Lecture Series".
Her poems were among those highlighted
in the 2012 Aliw award-winning film by Alvin Yapan, “Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang
Kaliwang Paa.”
Ruth’s latest crusade is to nurture Filipino as a global language.
Several years ago, when then President Gloria Arroyo pushed for Spanish to be
taught in high schools and for prioritizing English so Filipinos could better
serve global business, Ruth mobilized a protest petition.
“I encouraged my students all over the United States to sign a petition
to fight the killing of Filipino in high school and college, which was part of
the Gullas Bill that Arroyo favored.
Later on, I organized the ‘Filipino as a
Global Language’ conference as a professor of Filipino language and Philippine
literature at the University of Hawaii,” she said.
Courses around the world
Through the conference, Ruth began to identify all the Filipino
language programs in the world.
“I was able to identify, for instance, that in Sorbonne University in
France, there is a Filipino named Marina Pattiere who is teaching
Filipino.
"I found out that in the
University of London, there is a Philippine Studies course and students there
are asked to go to learn the Filipino language in the Philippine Embassy.
"I was looking for courses, programs and
people teaching Filipino. I am in
correspondence with some high school teachers in Melbourne, Australia who are
teaching Filipino there.
“I also found out that there are Filipinos teaching Filipino in
Malaysia, Brunei and Beijing.
"In
Beijing, there is a masters’ degree program in Filipino. In Gaida University in
Osaka, Japan, there is a Philippine Studies program, major in Filipino, and it
sends students to take higher level courses in Filipino to the University of
the Philippines.
“In the University of Hawaii, I have a government-funded Fulbright
program that sends Fil-Am students to study advanced-level Filipino in Manila
for 10 weeks.”
Teaching materials
Apart from identifying these programs and creating a global network of
specialists in Filipino, Ruth and her conference colleagues agreed to help each
other with materials for teaching courses on Filipino.
Right now, she said, there is a Consortium for the Advancement of
Filipino started by Dr. Teresita Ramos; there is a newsletter that informs and
updates members about developments and conferences.
“In my case, I started an organization
called the Global Consortium for the Advancement of Filipino Language and
Culture, which is another network.
People want to study the Filipino language for different reasons. “In
Germany and France, the interest would be mainly for the children of women who
married Germans or French. I met some of
them in 1997.
There are volunteers who
were teaching Filipino as a church-based activity. The idea was to connect the children to the
culture of their mothers, as sometimes the mothers can’t speak German so well
and the children need to have conversations with their mothers.”
In Osaka, the interest in Filipino could be related to being able to
use it in business and work places where there are Filipinos.
Maybe some Japanese students also take up Philippine
Studies in connection with their history. “We are part of the World War II
story of Japan, so they opt to learn Filipino, too,” she added.
2nd generation Filipinos
In Hawaii, Filipino is taught mainly for two reasons. One is for the
younger ones to learn the language of their fathers or grandfathers.
“Before,
children of immigrants were not allowed to speak (any other language besides
English) so they want to correct this. The third-generation Filipinos want to
learn to speak with their lolas and lolos.”
The other reason has to do with the history of immigrants in
Hawaii.
“The American sugar barons who
brought in Filipinos workers to the sugar plantations 1906 were required to
hire only those who could not read or write.
This was to prevent the workers from applying for jobs with other
companies, since the working conditions in the plantations were very
oppressive. They were treated almost
like slaves,” she said.
“There are a few Filipinos in Hawaii who are saying that Tagalog is
marginalizing the other languages in the Philippines. Which is untrue—historically or
anthropologically,” she argued.
“In the past, others claimed that there were more Cebuano or Ilocano
speakers. But today, Filipino is really
the dominant language. My job is to
find out how globalized Filipino is at the secondary and tertiary levels.”
Language and culture
At the basic level, overseas Filipinos have found the means to teach
Filipino language and culture.
In
Boston, for instance, the doctors and nurses have established church-based
programs including a children’s rondalla that has released a DVD. But all the teachers are volunteers, and
there are no learning levels.
“However, in San Diego, California, would you believe there are 70 high
schools that teach Filipino as a ‘world language’? California even has an accreditation system
for those who would like to teach Filipino in high schools.
"I would like to bring that system to Hawaii
so that Filipino majors can earn credits to teach in high schools. I am working on that now.
"I am also trying to standardize the
curriculum so that high school students can have at least basic knowledge of
Philippine culture, and a basic literacy of Philippine literature in Filipino.
For instance, one basic canon of Philippine Literature is Florante at Laura by
Balagtas.
"Students must be able to pass
basic exams on this Tagalog work.
“You cannot learn a language without understanding its culture so I
have developed many courses. I have a course on Philippine films … on Filipino
food, music and rituals. Language and culture: they are like twins.” -- Inquirer
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