Opinion Polls
By Marichel Teves-Magalona

Congress is set to deliberate on what should be our official medium of instruction. In your opinion which do you prefer – English or Filipino? Why?

NIEL LAAS
Of course English. That's our global language.

RAYMUND SALAO
English has and always been our upperhand advantage with our other Asian brothers and sisters. It is (Filipino) mastery of English that has given us the millions of jobs, to many western nations, we are the epitome of the “educated asian” simply because we can bridge cultural and linguistic gaps with them. We must restor the usage of English. We do this, not because we would ignor the Filipino language, but because we would prove to the world how intelligent the Pilipino is, to be a master of more than just one language.

JUNIE VELASCO
English coz it's the language that is mostly used by other countries.

MARTIN SORIANO
English. We are a labor exporting country. English is the current international language. (If these were Roman times, then we learn Latin. If this was the 15 th Century, then FRENCH of Spanish.) What is important is that Filipinos must be able to communicate internationally.

HEIDI PALMARES-GUERRA
English.

GENE GARINGALAO
English. It's the universal language, besides we have a competitive advantage to speak of.

JUNDY GUECO
We make terrible Filipinos and seem to be great US citizens. Kaya English nalang.

MARI ROSE CACHO
English. Which ever way you put it, it's to the best interest of our children and grandchildren.

ERIC SORIANO
English of course… Try talking to a Korean in Tagalog.

ERIC DELOS SANTOS
Both… Filipino because for being nationalistic, English because it's the universal language.

JANE CAMPOS-JARANTILLA
English is my choice for the Philippines is composed of different dialects – not all could understand and speak Tagalog. And Filipinos are the choice of most foreign employers because of our ability in speaking good English and anyone can communicate easily and faster with Filipinos here and abroad. Korean are here to study Engish for they found out that English is the most accepted language worldwide and that is our advantage and asset over all Asians and now we change. It's bad timing.

KENNETH LERONA
We have to be proud of our own Filipino (by Filipino, we do not only speak of Tagalog) language but we have to consider that English is the world's business and economic medium. To be globally competitive, we have to adapt and be adept in the world's most used language.

TINTIN TALABAN
I'd rather choose Filipino for the reason that our officials would realize that what they do are for Filipinos, at syempre tangkilikin ang sariling atin…

CALOY BORJA
English nalang. We have an advantage over our Asian neighbors because of our fluency in English.

PATTY BORRES-GARCIA
English for me is an accepted global language. Sad to say but most Filipinos understand English better than our national language. For me English.

JANET GARIN
Will prefer English as medium of instruction. Many textbooks especially related to sciences are hard to translate to Tagalog. Talking about job opportunities in other countries, high English literacy / fluency is one of the “assets” of the Filipinos. Moreover, majority of the Filipinos are Cebuanos / Bisaya speaking rather than Tagalog.

CAROLINE JAVELLANA
I prefer English…why? I'll ask you in return… would you like to be Senator Lito Lapid who has an interpreter in order to understand English?

GOODY ARANCILLO
Taglish, hehehe…

PANGGING ROSALES
Being a universal language English as spoken in England should be adopted. A lot of Filipinos don't really know English as English should be learned. Besides, nationalism has been proven, historically to have made peoples of a nation fanatics. e.g. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. As a matter of fact Germany does not force its people to hail their flag anymore. So the argument that Tagalog should be adopted to instill nationalism in the Filipino people is rather absurb.

DR. LOUIE TIRADOR
English. That's our competitive edge. We have to think globally.

CHRISTIA ABLONA
English… It is the language commonly used all over the world and understood.

PAZ MONTERO
English. We need it to communicate in the global community. A language other than our native tongue is always a valuable skill.

MARGE FLORETE
We should continue to make English the medium of instruction as we need to be globally competitive. Our proficiency and the language is our edge as Filipinos compared to other nationalities.

MARICEL AQUINO
English. It is widely used. For us to be competitive, we must have a strong command with the language.

FAYE PIANO
English. Because we are moving on to a world with no boundaries and we can only do it if we have one medium with the rest of the world. Opportunities are not only available here but also abroad, so why limit ourselves?

DEO LLAMAS
English. It was our edge before it's the universal language for international business, commerce and trade. With the borderless economy we need it more than ever to be competitive as a nation and as a people. Command of English language is needed for leaders of industry, government, politics, tourism etc. Communicating their ideas, principle, policy. Funny if we lose our edge 10 to 20 years from now it would be the Koreans who will be teaching our children English instead of us teaching them now.

LALLY GOLEZ-NAVA
English. If we want to be globally competitive we have to be well versed with the global language which is English.

MARTIN PANES
English, we believe that most Filipinos can speak English and that even make others learn to speak English well.

DR. JEREMY SAQUIAN
English. It is a universally accepted language. Chinese, Koreans and other Asian countries try to adopt English to be globally competitive. Filipino in medical field? So how will you say gastroenteritis, myocardial infraction, intravitreal injection, etc. in Filipino?

EUGENE BORRES-LUCERO
English. It is considered a universal medium. French, Koreans and other countries are taking pains to learn the language and here we are disregarding them. Typical Filipino. We don't appreciate what we are having. 2 nd point, I don't understand why this thing is being tackled when we have more pressing problems right under our noses! They don't really care! It is a bad sign when indifference starts to appear!

BOBBY JARDER
I couldn't believe you'll ask that. I'll answer it with a question. What are you? Filipino or American?

PHILIPP MATTHYS
With all due respect, not just English but more of it! As it gives the Filipino a competitive edge for tourism, English related job opportunities, in attracting investors as well as for professionals working abroad.

DESIREE BRETAÑA
English!… speaking the language won't mean we are any less patriotic and exceling in it will be a major step to putting us back on the world stage.

FR. OSCAR ANDRADA
While it is praiseworthy to have a national language, we have to be fluent in English to be globally competitive. There are just not enough books in PILIPINO in sciences, arts etc. When there are, we Pilipinize English words.

BERD VARGAS
English, 'coz if we use Filipino as the official medium of instruction, that's a big disadvantage to us Ilonggos especially the kids, those in NCR will be better off coz Tagalog is their language. Di va?