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... one of my resources (Bautista in Sibayan 1999) said that Filipino, at its present state of development, unfortunately could not be used as a language register in Philippine law. That is a sad presumption. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago (interview, 2003) offered her assessments regarding the three assumptions language shift, fair interpretation (appreciation) of law and preservation of nationalism. The idea of Filipino being the measure of nationalism is an obsolescence that used to be valid in the past, but the argument lost potency because of the phenomenon of globalization.
English is no longer just the former colonial language; it is now the lingua franca of the whole world, including such linguistically xenophobic countries as France, Germany and China. Sen. Santiago opined that to advocate that Filipino should replace English would be tantamount to rejecting an inherent advantage on the part of the English speaking Filipino people. Filipino may replace English in certain parts of the trial, particularly in the arraignment period and presentation of the litigants own testimony, if the said litigant or the witnesses are not fully conversant in English.
Sen. Santiago stated that during trial where she was judge, part of her fame (or notoriety as she also described it) as an RTC judge was her insistent use of the Filipino language in her court. She would make it a point that everybody in the court speaks in Filipino for the sake of clarity in pursuing the truth. As such, the adaptation of either English or Filipino as language of the court should depend on the particular circumstances of the litigant or any other witnesses. Here, it is made clear that Filipino is still widely used during court trials for the sake of the litigants. However, as the trial progresses into highly technical level, there is no point to make the litigant understand the flow of trial because he cannot understand any of it unless he has gone to law school.
Concepts such as offer of evidence or demurer to evidence could not be plainly or simply translated into Filipino and make them comprehensible for anyone. The usual setup of individuals with trial roles in the court is this the witness, interpreter and stenographer. Sen. Santiago recalls occasions with high points of hilarity particularly when the lawyers of both parties would not agree on the interpretation of a term from Filipino to English being given out by the interpreter for the stenographer to record in the transcript.
These occasions do not only provide such comic interruptions but delays upon delays as the debate over which translation is best translation goes on between the concerned lawyers. Sen. Santiago does not believe that the underprivileged, non-English speaking litigant is deprived of justice because the trial of his case is conducted in English. Litigants who are furnished a copy of any judicial document will be unable to comprehend the contents of the document regardless of whether it is written in Filipino or English. She further stated that because law is a highly technical profession and it is confined to a specific language thought, it is never a matter of common sense; this is a misimpression. If the reason behind the intent of using Filipino in the judicial processes of our courts is for the litigant to understand, by himself, the ramifications of the trial, then it is futile.
You cannot be your own counsel. It is the same as patients self-medicating when there is a physician who can best interpret the actual medical implications of his condition. Law uses terms that are unique in the profession and therefore, no matter how the judge or the lawyers try to make the language as simple as possible, still it would be largely incomprehensible to the layman. This is why law takes four years on top of undergraduate school. It is the task of the lawyer and the judge to explain the flow of the trial to the litigant. Is it possible for the Filipino to English language shift to take place?
Sen. Santiago said that this is most unlikely to happen because To shift from English to Filipino in a complete turnover is disruptive and expensive for the State. We do not have the resources to finance the translation into Filipino of all the decisions of the Philippine Supreme Court. These decisions are collected into a series called Philippine Reports with 110 volumes, Supreme Court Reports Annotated with 371 volumes so far and the American Jurisprudence 2 nd with 83 volumes. These reference materials that documented preceding classic cases are basic sources of any serious law office. They are like a stethoscope to a doctor or a slide rule to an engineer.
They are so basic that any effort to turn over to Filipino necessarily involves the translation of these books to Filipino also. This would mean that reference materials sourced from abroad such as decisions of the US Supreme Court, the British Courts and the International Court of Justice would all be translated to Filipino. While these decisions are not derived in the Philippines, they are very authoritative in the judicial profession. As a profession, the law is extensively dependent on precedents, whether here or abroad. Is our language truly that weak according to how scholars picture it? The answer to that may lie on how we value the language and its relation to our literacy and nationalism.
Judging from the way our Education system has been pathetically treating the language since the time we were given our so-called freedom, we could see where our problem roots. In school year 2002 - 2003 (DILA Philippines Foundation, Inc. 2002), there are almost 20 million school children enrolled in schools nationwide. Under former Department of Educations Secretary Rocos basic education curriculum, their instruction will begin to focus only on the five subjects of Filipino, English, Mathematics, Science and Makabayan. At best, this is hoped to improve the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) scores of Sixth Graders, which in 2001 stood at a low 51. 7 % when the passing mark is 75 %. How is this to be done? By lumping Geography, History, Government and Civics, Home Economics, Livelihood Education and Music and Arts in Makabayan for elementary; and Teknolohiya-Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan, Edukasyong Pangkatawan, Amazing Panlipunan, Edukasyong sa Pagpapahalaga, Philippine History, Asian Studies, World History and Economics for high school students.
The mega subject, Makabayan (Patriotism) is thus to be taught in the Filipino national language. Reason? Dep Ed is of the opinion that Filipino is better comprehended by school children than any other language. Inasmuch as much of the NEAT questionnaire is written in Filipino, the Dep Ed hopes to raise average scores by intensifying Filipino instruction in the elementary level. As such, they are going to teach Filipino for the sake of teaching Filipino. Concern for education and literacy as Bautista defined it, is a thing of the past.
Literacy rate by the time these children are old enough to understand their rights may not be ideally high. The statistics are quite misleading. In another plane, we boast of having one of the highest literacy rates in Asia more than 90 % (Tan, 2001) but how much of that is functional? It seems we only like to see numbers and do not care to see deeply still to see how we stand as a literate citizenry. Tan defined a literate citizenry is one that understands the value of listening to all sides, separating fact from fiction. He further opined that as we become truly literate, then we become less gullible, less prone to being fooled by the gimmickry of ads and marketing campaigns or by the shrill and sterile rhetoric of politicians, and in the context of judicial profession in the Philippines, protect self against the circumventions of lawyers and incompetence of judges.
Conclusion The English language is the best language to conduct judicial trials in the Philippines because it is the language that sufficiently and adequately sustains the requirements of law. The training, practice and enhancements of skills of lawyers and people in the legal profession are conducted in this language using its Standard/Formal form that requires extensive study and learning. The Constitution provided for this provision that in any case of conflict, the English translation of law shall prevail over our very own language. The Filipino language, though slowly gaining popular acceptance is not ready to replace English in this field. The language is limited in a sense that up to now, it has not provided a vocabulary for certain abstract concepts in law.
Language shift, at this time, is not only expensive, it is likewise arduous and ineffectual considering the massive reference materials that also need to be translated in Filipino. The rights of the litigants (plaintiff and respondents) are guaranteed by the fact that the processes of the trials are clearly explained to them in areas where they need to be apprised of such intricacies using the language most familiar and comprehensible to them. The motion, researches, appreciation and evaluation of cases, or the things done in the back room (Defensor-Santiago, 2003) that lie in the hands of the learned people of the law are conducted in English which acclimatize every rule or policy that qualifies them to make sound and fair interpretation of the law. Nationalism is not threatened because it is not the case in point here.
The language that we speak does not measure our sense of nationalism. This is a controversial issue since we are still divided as to which dialect should be made the official language of the country. Why Filipino if Filipino or Tagalog is to be made the national language considering that it is just one of the eight most spoken dialects in the country? This has undoubtedly become a source of division among the regions, which sees the choice as iniquitous and biased. DILA (2002) dared say freedom from Filipino means that communities are able to develop and market textbooks in the local language, promote indigenous art and literature, and discard the albatross of cultural inferiority. And if the community so decides to enhance the proficiency of their children in English, let them proceed without the hindrance of over-centralized authority.
The time has come to no longer have a national language. More than the language game, whichever language we use, the more important aspect of the whole general picture is still understanding or literacy. This ensures that an active communication of truth, fair judgment and appreciation of facts according to what the law defines will be shared by all parties concerned, not only the ones writing, implementing or deciding the law, but also the one whose rights and destiny are being decided. We cannot compromise truth by insisting on nationalistic pride that is flimsily appreciated to start with. So far, the English language remains to be undisputed in this area. References: Asia Foundation. 1998 - 2002.
Asia Foundation Program in the Philippines Available at web asia phil. html Cruz, I. A. and C. D. Quezon. 2001.
Fundamentals of English Grammar for Filipino Lawyers, vol. 3. Quezon City, Philippines. Rex Printing Co. , Inc. DILA Philippines Foundation, Inc. 2002.
On Education Philippine Daily Inquirer. 28 July. Graddol, D. 1997. The Future of English? United Kingdom. The English Company (UK) Ltd. Just, J.
M. 1969. The Citizen and the Constitution. Quezon City, Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Publication Office. Santiago, Sen. M.
D. 2003. Interview by the author. Quezon City, Philippines. 14 April. Sibayan, B.
P. 1999. The Intellectualization of Filipino. Manila, Philippines. The Linguistic Society of the Philippines.
Tagapamalita. 2002. Forensic DNA Analysis: Revolutionizing the Justice System Available at web aisa phil. html Tan, M. L. 2001. Literacy and Politics. Philippine Daily Inquirer.
May
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