Why Do I Write, Nay Love To Write In English, When I Am A Full-Blooded Ilocano And Living In The Philippines?

Recently, on Facebook the title of Eric North’s BS thesis (Bachelor of Linguistics, 2013, Cornerstone University in Michigan) caught my attention: “Philippine English, Linguistic Imperialism and English Language Teaching.” A Filipino writer in English, certainly I disagree with “linguistic imperialism” as applied on both sides of the fence.

“Words have power” indeed, but you have to form them from somewhere to become a message. My wide & wild & wizened googling convinced me 25 years ago – I’m 82, thank God! – English is the most powerful language in the world, has the most knowledge. I say: “English is power!”
(“Words” from dreamstime.com, “Knowledge” from quotesgram.com)

I have been a writer mostly in the manner of the American Reader’s Digest, unusually & actively communicating starting 1975 when I began founding & becoming the Editor In Chief of the 3 major publications of the Forest Research Institute (FORI) – monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitatthat I patterned after the American National Geographic. American Boy!

In one issue of Habitat, I wrote my new theory that I called “Communication for Development(ComDev).” And certainly, forester Filiberto S Pollisco, Director of FORI, applauded my ComDev products. Of this and more, I have written earlier (22 April 2018, GAIA con GAIA, blogspot.com):

With Dr Pollisco at the top and I below, we were setting the pace and tone of communication for the development of Philippine forests and forestry.

American English! On 24 Nov 2021, I regenerated “ComDev” into “CoViD21” – acronym for Communication for Village Development in the 21st Century – emphasizing “village development” (26 Nov 2021, “Regenerative Thinking… Regenerative Agriculture In The Philippines,” Frank And Healthy Minds, blogspot.com). Where else did I catch the concept of “Regenerative” except in English?

Since 2000 when I started blogging (self-taught, I must emphasize), I have uploaded at least 8 million words in my numerous blogs, all in American English (excluding Americanisms) – have I been displaying American linguistic imperialism in my writing as Mr North alleges?

Mr North quotes Mary Bresnahan from “English In The Philippines” (Journal of Communication, 1979):

… colonizing a people who wanted independence presented a situation which was philosophically inconsistent with democratic ideals. In rousing public support, they (American public policy makers) attempted to justify their actions by emphasizing the enlightenment the US presence could bring to the Philippines.

Mr North says, “The very notion of enlightenment described here indicates a perceived status of superiority.” I say, of course!

He further says:

Granted, one could certainly say that English has unlocked Philippine involvement in international politics, business, and economics in a very practical way. However, the most positive outcomes of English in the Philippines have always been a result of Filipinos’ practical resourcefulness and appropriation of the English, not the philosophical enlightenment of the Islands through the language.

Mr North, no stopping: We Filipinos wish to be enlightened! And it is not the English language per se that has enlightened us Filipinos – it has been Filipino intelligence!@517