Filed
First Reading
Referred to the Committee on Rules, Committee on Finance, Budget and ManagementNow
Parliament Bill No. 176
In committeeAn Act Implementing the Use of English-Arabic as an Official Language for Signages in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and Providing Funds Therefor
Filed
First Reading
Referred to the Committee on Rules, Committee on Finance, Budget and ManagementNow
Under committee study or floor debate. Amendments are still possible, and this is the stage where public input carries the most weight.
What this measure does
This requires all signage in the Bangsamoro, in both public and private institutions and establishments, to be in English and Arabic.
The two must appear together — written side by side, or English above and Arabic below. Signage is defined broadly: any written announcement installed, posted, hung, painted or otherwise displayed in a public place, and generally any graphic display intended to convey information to an audience. The Ministry of Public Works is to provide a list of all appropriate and lawful signages and other devices and instruments.
Funds come from the Bangsamoro appropriations act. The Act takes effect 15 days after publication in at least two newspapers of regional circulation.
Why it was proposed
The declaration of policy states it as inclusivity: the Bangsamoro Government respects and promotes inclusivity within the region, and to that end mandates English-Arabic signage in public and private establishments.
Arabic is the liturgical language of Islam and the language of madrasah instruction across the region, and its visible presence in public space is a marker of the Bangsamoro identity the autonomy arrangement exists to express.
Who it affects
- Every private establishment in the region — shops, restaurants, offices, clinics — which would have to replace or supplement its signage.
- Every public institution and government office in the region.
- The Ministry of Public Works, which must issue the list of appropriate and lawful signages.
- Readers of Arabic, for whom public information becomes accessible.
- Speakers of the region’s own languages — Maguindanaon, Maranao, Tausug, Sinama, Yakan, Iranun — and of Filipino, none of which the bill provides for.
Who would implement it
- Ministry of Public Works (MPW), which provides the list of appropriate and lawful signages, devices and instruments
Funding
Carries an appropriation. No figure. Funds are charged against the General Appropriation Act of the Bangsamoro. The appropriation would cover government signage; the bill also binds every private establishment in the region and says nothing about who pays for theirs, which is the larger cost by far and falls on the businesses.
What changes if it becomes law
- All signage in the region, public and private, must be in English and Arabic.
- The two languages must appear together — side by side, or English above Arabic.
- MPW must publish a list of appropriate and lawful signages.
- Government signage costs come from the Bangsamoro appropriations act.
Raised during deliberations
No published record of the debate on this measure. Parliament’s journals cover sittings up to March 2023 only, and no committee report on it has been published.
What to notice
Section 4 defines "Official Language" as "English-Arabic, to be used in signages" — and that definition is where the difficulty is. Under the Constitution the national language is Filipino, and the official languages are Filipino and English. The Bangsamoro Organic Law treats Arabic as an official language of the region alongside Filipino and English, so Arabic on public signage is on solid ground; what is not is a signage rule that requires English and Arabic and leaves Filipino out entirely.
The compliance cost is the second thing, and it is not small. The bill binds every private establishment in the region and provides money only through the regional appropriations act, which will not be paying for the signage of shops in Bongao or Marawi. Nor is there a transition period, a threshold exempting small businesses, or a penalty — so the Act takes effect 15 days after publication and every non-compliant sign in the region is immediately non-compliant with no stated consequence, which is a strange combination.
Third, and most substantively: the region has six or more living languages of its own. A signage law justified by inclusivity that mandates Arabic and English while making no provision for Maguindanaon, Maranao, Tausug, Sinama, Yakan or Iranun is making a particular argument about what Bangsamoro identity consists of. That is a legitimate argument to make and the bill should be read as making it.
It carries 9 principal authors, among the most in this batch, which suggests the argument is widely shared.
Sources