Villafuerte backs Marcos Jr’s plan to upskill students in English

By Billy Begas

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte expressed support for the plan of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to upskill students in the English language.

Villafuerte also opposed the proposal of a militant teachers’ group calling on the Marcos administration to drop English in favor of Filipino as the medium of instruction in schools.

“Blunting our sought-after labor force’s competitive edge in the world’s lingua franca by using Filipino as the medium of instruction for our students is a recipe for disaster as we would be needlessly giving up one potent skill that has allowed our professionals and other workers to step into quality jobs here and abroad: the Filipino’s relative facility for the English language,” Villafuerte said.

He noted that proficiency in English has opened a lot of opportunities for those looking for jobs as well as for workers to keep their current employment or get promoted.

“Why will we unjustifiably relinquish our ‘A’ game in English, so to speak, when this language is known as the world’s lingua franca because there are reportedly 350 million people across the globe who speak it as their first language and 500 million more who use it as their second language?” the solon asked.

Villafuerte said Marcos “is correct in looking at re-teaching basic skills in our schools not only in Filipino but in English as well as part of his administration’s planned education reforms.”

He also pointed out that “keeping our labor force highly attractive for local and international employers is one means for the Marcos administration’s economic transformation to succeed” since it will attract foreign investment and continue the hiring of overseas Filipino workers.