José P. Laurel

(1915-1982) 

3rd President of the Philippines

(Originally in Spanish)

"On the other hand, and almost ironically, the true liberation of the Filipino individual equally depends on their learning and use of the same Spanish or Castilian language, this language being the vehicle of their history and their national identity. Sad will be the day when Spaniards, and well-off Hispanic Americans, will stop supporting us in our efforts to preserve this common language in our islands against English. As Spaniards, as well as Spanish-Americans, as Filipinos, we will have lost, at the moment when the Spanish language disappears completely in these Islands, the pride of being what we are, the dignity of people, self-love, self-respect, decency in everything, because all of us, together, will have also admitted that we are no longer what we should be and that we are mired in the greatest misfortune of all time: disunity and disorganization in the face of a common enemy that forces us to use its foul language"

Claro M. Recto (1890-1960) Politician, Hispanista and writer

(Originally in Spanish)

"It is not, certainly for sentimental reasons or deference to the great Spanish nation that gave half the world its religion, its language and its culture, that we profess devotion to this language and we show firm determination to preserve and propagate it, but for national selfishness and by imperatives of patriotism, because Spanish is our own thing, blood of our blood, and flesh of our flesh, because our martyrs, heroes and statesmen of the past wanted it, and without it the inventory of our cultural heritage will be truncated; because while it is true that the Revolution and the Republic of Malolos and the present Republic were the work of the people, it is also true that those who prepared and channeled were intellectuals who wrote their books, speeches, pamphlets and essays in Spanish. perform work of doctrine and propaganda work; because it would be tragic if the day came to read Rizal, del Pilar, Mabini, Adriatico, Palma, Arellano and Osmeña, we Filipinos had to do it through bastardized translations, in short, because Spanish is a homeland tradition that if it has roots in our history also has them in the bowels of our soul, and because the Spanish is the "open, Sesame" of the enchanted cave that keeps, as imperishable treasures, the highest thoughts and the highest feelings that man has been capable of since the morning of civilization.“

Emilio Aguinaldo

(1869-1964)

1st President of the Philippines

(Originally in Spanish)

“I regret that the Philippines will remain a colony of the United States because the campaign to force the English language on our children is implacable and leads to the defilipinisation of our future generations. And even more when they lose the necessary knowledge of the Spanish language, the official with Tagalog, our First Republic.”

Fernando María Guerrero y Ramírez (1873-1929)

Lawyer, politician, professor and one of the most important Filipino writers of the Spanish language.

Oh, noble Hispania! Este día

es para ti mi canción,

canción que viene de lejos

como eco de antiguo amor,

temblorosa, palpitante

y olorosa a tradición

para abrir sus alas cándidas

bajo el oro de aquel sol

que nos metiste en el alma

con el fuego de tu voz

y a cuya lumbre, montando,

clavileños de ilusión,

mi raza adoró la gloria

del bello idioma español,

que parlan aún los Quijotes

de esta malaya región,

donde quieren nuevos Sanchos,

que parlemos en sajón.

Teodoro Kalaw y Manguiat (1884-1940) Journalist, politician and writer

(Originally in Spanish)

“What relationship does the Spanish language have with these struggles today is not difficult to determine. In its general and unitary aspect, our civilization is written in Spanish. Six million documents since the time of Legazpi sleep in the archives of our government, mostly inviolate; Sixty thousand manuscripts only from the time of the Philippine revolution are preserved in our National Library; one hundred and eighty thousand, in the Bureau of Island Affairs in Washington; dozens of thousands of books on Philippine life in three centuries of Spanish occupation, are stored in old shelves of our official dependencies; without counting so much stock of infolios scattered around the world, in Seville, in Madrid, in London, in Mexico. All this in Castilian, ancient or modern language, according to the era in which they were written or printed.such bibliographical richness containing the treasure of an imposing antiquity, is waiting for the men of investigation and study, like an immense mine in whose quarries lie a thousand unknown sheds for the faithful reconstruction of the glory and greatness of a common enterprise. Castilian is in the Philippines, an element of continuity, basic, and as such indispensable."

Elpidio Quirino y Rivera (1890-1956) 

Sixth President of the Philippines

“It is really here where Spain deposited all her love, all her affection, and all her interest to cultivate and propagate her culture and language, both of which we have cultivated and preserved not only as one of the most precious legacies of our history, but also as the secret of our cultural and social progress, particularly because it was Spain that nurtured us with her culture, language, and religion, so that we may develop as a civilized and cultured country in this part of the world.”

 Carlos P. Garcia 

(1896-1971) 
8th President of the Philippines

“Fervent believer, on the one hand, in the survival of Spanish language in our country, considered as one of the strongest bases of the culture that honors and distinguishes us, and on the other, bearing in mind that our national history is written in that language, and that is the language in which our leaders, the national heroes of the Philippine mind, the heroes and martyrs of our glorious yesterday wrote, I believe it a duty of justice and gratitude to foster and preserve it for posterity.“

Manuel L. Quezon (1878-1944)  

2nd President of the Philippines

 “The Latin-American people believe and feel that we Filipinos form part of that vast family, the children of Spain. Thus, although Spain ceased to govern those countries many years ago and although other nation is sovereign in the Philippines, those Latin-American peoples feel themselves as brothers to the people of the Philippines. It is the Spanish language which still binds us to those peoples, and the Spanish language will bind us to those people eternally if we have the wisdom and patriotism of preserving it.”

León María Guerrero y Francisco 

(1915-1982) 

Diplomat, lawyer and writer

(Originally in Spanish)

"The Philippines would not be the Philippines without Spain, it would be maybe Indonesian; it would be Malaysian; it would even be Chinese or Japanese but if the Philippines is the Philippines, it is because of the Spanish presence. Even a Filipino who does not know history or a word of Spanish, can not detach; break away from this historical affiliation; he can not erase the consequences of three and a half centuries; he can not be Filipino without being part Spanish; Spanish is his habits, his jealousy, his pride“

Enrique Zóbel de Ayala (1877-1943) IIndustrialist and philanthropist

“¡No quiero que el español muera en Filipinas!”

"I do not want the Spanish language to die in the Philippines!"