GMA considering reinstating Castilian as official in the Philippines

Translation from Castilian original: 

Buenos Aires, Aug 8 2007(EFE News) – The president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is considering the reinstating of Castilian (Spanish) to its official language status it had lost in 1987, possibly for next January, and she will request the cooperation of Spain, said the Secretary of the Academies of the Spanish Language, Humberto Lopez Morales.

During a colloquium inauguration on the Spanish language, Lopez Morales affirmed that the Philippine president will request the cooperation of Spain during an upcoming state visit she has scheduled for December.

The cooperation of Spain with its former colony could materialize, according to the Cuban philologist nationalized as Spaniard, in providing professors and bibliographic material for the teaching of the language, among other initiatives.

If she receives the help of the Spanish government, she may be issuing, as early as January 2008, a decree making Castilian another official language, according to Lopez Morales.

Although Macapagal Arroyo has expressed this wish in public, in earlier occasions, it is the first time a date is mentioned.

Last April, the Instituto Cervantes in Manila requested the Philippine government to reinstate the teaching of Castilian as official language in the curriculum of students in the public system.

Philippines suppressed Castilian from its educational pensum in 1987, during the government of president Corazon Aquino, under the new constitution decreed after the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

More than 5 thousand people are currently studying the Spanish language in this country, according to data from Instituto Cervantes.

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Original in Castilian: http://www.proyectos-saluda.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=284&Itemid=122

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