Ethel Booba sparks ‘witty’ thread about Filipino language in Twitterverse

FILE: Comedienne Ethel Booba (Photo: ethelbooba/Instagram)

Comedienne Ethel Booba is once again winning the internet as she explains in a fun but outright brilliant way the reason behind the exclusion of Filipino and Panitikan as subjects in college, while some public schools will teach Korean language to its students — sparking a witty exchange with netizens on Twitter.

The Supreme Court (SC) recently lifted a 2015 temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 20 which excluded Filipino and Panitikan as core courses in tertiary level, a decision that drew flak from several schools and Filipino language advocates.

While this matter is taken seriously by many Filipinos, Ethel somehow managed to break the ice when she made light of the issue.

“Balak na pala alisin ang Filipino subject sa college at magkakaroon ng foreign language sa ibang level gaya ng Korean (I see that they are intending to remove Filipino subject in college and have foreign languages in other levels like Korean),” Ethel tweeted.

But why? The comedienne said, “Pambansang bayani kasi natin ay Koreano na si Rizal Park. Charot (Our national hero is a Korean named Rizal Park. Joke)!” pertaining to the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal and the landmark Rizal Park.

Many netizens instantly noticed Ethel’s hilarious tweet, and with no intention of losing the Pinoy’s game of wit, these social media users also shared their own entries.

Instead of saying one of Rizal’s famous lines, “Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa sa hayop at malansang isda (He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly fish),” netizen @JhunLloyd04 tweeted a photo of the country’s national hero, along with a text, “Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit sa hayop at kamsahamnida (He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and kamsahamnida),” which means ‘thank you’ in South Korea.

Netizen @sharkushark, meanwhile, was supposed to tweet the last part of the Philippine national anthem, “Ang mamatay nang dahil sayo (To die because of you),” but he replaced the word “Ang” with a South Korean term “Annyeong.”

Two netizens even created a family tree of “Parks,” where “Rizal Park” is the “grandfather” of South Korean singer Sandara Park, according to a certain @mrdarren761, while @joudraihana said he is the “great-grandfather” of another Korean singer Park Chanyeol.

Twitter user @RamonMM9, on the other hand, said he was not informed that the Philippines is also a “colony” of Korea.

“Akala ko province tayo ng China (I thought we are China’s province)? Philippines… my country with a confused IDENTITY!” he said, pinching in issues between the Philippines and China.

Even though some netizens, including Ethel, made a little fun of the issue, they are not disregarding the fact that it is indeed alarming.

A certain @calypsodiary, for her part, said she has nothing against foreign languages being taught to Filipino students as it is also an additional knowledge for them.

But she stressed, “‘Di pa nga tayo bihasa sa sarili nating lenggwahe eh.. pwede nmn idagdag lang yung foreign language as elective or smth para sa mga interesado pero ang subj na filipino, wag sana tanggalin (We are not yet proficient in our own language. We can just add foreign languages as elective or something for those who are interested, but I hope the Filipino subject will not be removed).”

Before Ethel, another comedienne Kakai Bautista, also expressed her sentiments about the matter on social media.

“Oo (Yes) we love Korea, Koreans. Their telenovelas, their food. Their pop superstars. I don’t hate them. I am actually a fan,” Kakai wrote.

“PERO sana po @PhCHED wag naman nating gawin ‘to (But @PhCHED, please do not do this). Pls. Don’t let them invade our own culture. Cut Panitikan to teach Korean language.

NO!!!” she continued.

The celebrity shared her thoughts along with an illustration made by Semi Singkit, showing a young student whose tongue, labeled as “Wikang Pilipino (Filipino language),” is being cut by a scissor tagged as “CHED,” while a syringe identified as “Korean Language” is injected to his tongue.