English Textbooks In The Philippines

The new schoolyear is still fresh, barely a month old. On my mind's periphery, I kinda' remember a brouhaha that erupted a year ago about someone getting sued for bringing to public attention the poor English in Philippine textbooks. I tried to look for information on the web, and discovered this almost-one-year old article on The International Herald Tribune Online: English Getting Lost In Translation In The Philippines by Carlos H. Conde. A quote:


"We grow our hogs in our own farms so you're sure to get meat that is grown."

"The city's voice is soft like solitudes."

"He found his friend clowning himself around."

"He seemed to be waiting for someone, not a blood relation, much less a bad blood."

Such phrases, lifted from government-approved textbooks used in Filipino public schools, are reinforcing fears that crucial language skills are degenerating in a country that has long prided itself on having some of the world's best English speakers. At a time when English is widely considered an advantage in global competitiveness for any country, many fear this former U.S. colony is slipping.

English is an official language here, along with the native Tagalog. Yet the U.S. State Department, in its "2007 Investment Climate Statement," released this month, concluded: "English-language proficiency, while still better than in other Southeast Asian nations, is declining in the Philippines."

The name of the man who brought our attention to this, and now has to defend himself in the courts for his trouble, is Antonio Calipjo Go. Does anyone have news on what's happened since? I can find no updates (or maybe I'm just lousy at using search engines). Do any of you in education or news know if the textbooks have been improved since last year? Based on the article, nothing was done initially despite Go's pointing this out to the Department of Education, until he took out a full-page ad in newspapers to advertise the situation and got into legal trouble for doing so.