An article by a faculty member of the Humanities and Language Division (HLD) of Mahidol University International College (MUIC) was published recently by the Bangkok Post.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Analiza Liezl Perez-Amurao’s article, “Philippines Sidelines Local Languages” was published on the July 9, 2025 issue of the Bangkok Post. Co-written with Mr. Michael Thomas Nelmida, a university lecturer and scholar from the Philippines, the article argues that the recent action of the Philippine government canceling its previous Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) policy and replacing it instead with a law that designates Filipino and English as the main languages of instruction, signals a deeper cultural loss to Philippine society.
As a recipient of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines’ Distinguished Bonifacio P. Sibayan Professorial Chair in Applied Linguistics and a Regional Advisory Committee member for SOAS GLOCAL University of London, Dr. Perez-Amurao draws on her expertise to show how the policy rollback undermines linguistic diversity, identity, and inclusive education. Together with Mr. Nelmida, an MA candidate in Human Rights and Democratization at Mahidol University and Gadjah Mada University, she warns that valuing the English language over the mother tongue may serve short-term economic interests but risks erasing cultural memory and local knowledge.
