MANILA, Philippines ? The use of children's mother tongue in teaching them the basics in school now has a prominent supporter in President Benigno Aquino III, and with his high-profile backing, the bill to institute such a system is expected to pass the 15th Congress.

Valenzuela Representative Magtanggol Gunigundo, a proponent of the bill for the multilingual approach to education, said the President underscored the value of using the local language as a teaching tool during a public speech on education early this year.

Aquino, in his speech, noted that children learn best in their early years if they are taught in the language they are familiar with. He batted for the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction from pre-school up to Grade 3 level, before switching to English and Filipino for certain subjects.

Gunigundo, who expects to join the majority in the House of Representatives, said this support from the chief executive, especially if he mentions this in his forthcoming state of the nation address, is likely to spell success for the passage of his bill.

According to Gunigundo, he expects Aquino to reiterate his position on multilingual education when he faces legislators at the end of the month to present his agenda.

?We believe this would be part of the education policy of the present President,? Gunigundo said at the Kapihan sa Sulo forum. ?What's important is literacy, not just a particular language, and we expect this educational policy to be presented to the nation.?

He also said teaching kids in their local language would not only make them learn more, but it will also give them a stronger connection to the culture of the Philippines.

In pushing the multilingual approach, he has said that this would give students a strong educational foundation that would make them better-equipped to learn more skills and languages later on.

Educators also back this method, with the Department of Education issuing an order last year that mandates the use of the local dialect for pre-school and elementary levels. This replaced the decades-old bilingual approach to education, where Filipino and English are used as the primary mode of instruction.

Gunigundo's bill seeks to make the local dialect the primary medium of instruction up to Grade 3. English and Filipino would then be used in particular subjects starting from Grade 4.

The measure is expected to go up against its old foe, the English bill, whose main proponent is Cebu Representative Eduardo Gullas. Gullas' bill also states that the regional language may be used to teach students up to the third grade. From Grade 4 onwards, English would be the teaching language in all academic subjects.

Gullas' bill gathered over a hundred supporters during the 14th Congress, but Gunigundo said the picture has changed and he expects stronger backing for his bill now.

Meanwhile, Gunigundo also threw his support behind Aquino's position that students should be made to go to school for two more years.

He said the Philippines was the only country with a 10-year basic education cycle, while neighboring countries have a 12-year cycle, and this gives Filipino students a shallow comprehension of the subjects they are taught.

He said there were many new things that children need to learn now, including computer skills and an updated version of Philippine history, for instance.

?We have to catch up and be competitive. Our competition is not just fellow Filipinos but the children in other countries,? he said.