PHILIPPINES Mindanao, women’s organizations ask not to speak English

Often used as a lingua franca by the various ethnic groups on the island, not everyone understands it due to the low level of education. For this reason, some associations asked local politicians not to use it to allow a more active participation of the female and Muslim population. The literacy rate is 70% and makes the integration process difficult.

Manila () – Knowledge of English also hinders the integration and pacification process in Mindanao. The different communities of the Philippine island use it as a lingua franca, but only a part of the inhabitants knows it properly. The risk of a lack of understanding is that ethnic differences are accentuated rather than reduced, especially in a “sensitive” context such as the extreme south of the country.

These days, some women’s organizations in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) raised the issue, pointing out the low literacy of women in particular. They asked local deputies not to speak English in their meetings with the local population and to use difficult-to-understand technical terms very sparingly when preparing new laws for regional elections.

In Mindanao, education is struggling to reach optimal levels, with the literacy rate hovering around 70%, more than 20% below the national figure, and even lower among Muslims.

Initiatives such as the Bangsamoro Women Commission highlighted that “as sad as it is, many of our women do not easily understand English and therefore do not participate.” Other associations, such as the Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress and the Asia Foundation, have been collaborating for some time with the Bangsamoro Women Commission to support a communication project that involves the female component of the population through special information channels, with the aim of objective of increasing their active participation in the sectors that most affect them and concretely promoting their interests and rights.

The island of Mindanao is home to a population of 27 million. It is characterized by great ethnic and linguistic diversity, and by the presence of animistic religious traditions that over time gave way to Islam and Christianity. The latter became the majority over time, partly due to significant immigration from other areas, but the Muslim population of the Philippine archipelago is concentrated in Mindanao, amounting to 6% of the inhabitants. A peace process has been underway for years to end once and for all the Islamic insurgency that began in the late 1960s between the Philippine government and ethnic Moro rebels. Even today, tensions continue to be fueled by political and economic interests, as well as religious extremism. For its part, the objective of the integration process is to create opportunities and well-being that the Muslim population also shares.