IN 1977, my mentor, the poet and National Artist for Literature and Theater Rolando S. Tinio, wrote: 'It is too simple-minded to suppose that enthusiasm for Filipino as lingua franca and national language of the country necessarily involves the elimination of English usage or training for it in schools.

Proficiency in English provides us with all the advantages that champions of English say it does — access to the vast fund of culture expressed in it, mobility in various spheres of the international scene, especially those dominated by the English-speaking Americans, participation in a quality of modern life of which some features may be assimilated by us with great advantage.'