The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists SUMMER 2026 The Linguist 25 FEATURES the majority of the population (74.2%) is either living in poverty or vulnerable to poverty based on the latest government survey. 4 Bruselas believes the national language should be used in trials, especially in criminal cases, unless they involve people who can speak English well. "Our people deserve to understand our laws and their rights – thus they should be written and used in courts in the common language of the people, which is Filipino." He has noticed that writing decisions in Filipino has helped reduce the number of appeals, leading other judges to follow suit. "We are comfortable in English" The difficulty is that many do not find it easy to write professionally in Filipino. At law school, judges and lawyers are taught in English, which is the medium of instruction in Philippine schools. In fact, a lack of strong command of the English language is one of the reasons for bar exam failures, as proficiency in English is expected from law graduates. So it's understandable that they find it difficult to write professionally in Filipino. "Unfortunately, English predominates. It's the language of officialdom. All issuances, even our laws, are in English. Our constitution is primarily in English, although there is a Filipino translation, but because it was first written in English, that's how it's understood by the courts," Bruselas explains. "We judges are very comfortable in using English. It takes a long time to write a decision in the Filipino language because everything we read is in English." One day, a colleague who was struggling to write a decision in Filipino told him in jest, "Dumudugo ang ulo ko" ('My head is bleeding'). "It's saddening. It's funny. We are Filipinos. It seems we are more comfortable in the English language and we're struggling to think in our own Filipino language," Bruselas adds. One of the difficulties is that legal terms are generally longer in Filipino than in English, and some terms have no equivalent in the language. In such cases, the legal terms are retained in English or Spanish, which was the official language of the Philippines for over 400 years. Practice first, the rest will follow In 2006, the Supreme Court initiated a national campaign to "adopt the language of the law to that of the common people through translation of court decisions and proceedings into Filipino to enhance their access to justice, among others." A pilot project followed, pioneering the use of Filipino in three regional courts in Malolos City, Bulacan (a predominantly Tagalog- speaking province). Professor Isabel Pefianco Martin reported on the challenges, 5 including stenographers finding it difficult to take notes using Ikilat (i.e. Filipino stenography), and some lawyers struggling to communicate legal concepts in Filipino. In 2010, two of the three courts appealed to the Supreme Court to reconsider its directive and the use of Filipino became "optional and on a per case basis". The third court continued using Filipino until the death, in 2012, of presiding Judge Ma. Resureccion Ramos Buhat, who firmly believed "the benefits of the practice far outweigh whatever difficulties arose". 6 Bruselas believes practice comes first, and glossaries and the rest will follow. This can be supported by political will. For example, Congress recently decided to write new laws in Filipino. The idea is that with laws written in Filipino, people will start having conversations and transactions in the national language, and businesses will follow suit. WEIGHT OF THE LAW Statue depicting the scales of justice in front of the flag of the Philippines © SHUTTERSTOCK

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