The Philippines has long been accepted as a predominantly English-speaking people in the Asia-Pacific region. This is largely due to the 50-year presence in the country of the United States of America, throughout when it imparted and taught its language and culture to Filipinos.

Reading, writing and speaking English have always been considered an edge, so these are essential subjects from pre-school to college. With such familiarity of the world’s leading language, it is expected that the people’s knowledge and use of it would be further improved.

A report in 2018, however, put the spotlight on the dwindling English proficiency among Filipinos. In an interview with GMA News’ Raffy Tima, the Hopkins International Partners found in its study that the level of English proficiency of college graduates in the country is lower than the target English proficiency of high school students in Thailand.

Hopkins general manager Rex Wallen also talked about a nursing program in the country whose graduates were hired, but whose trip to the United Kingdom was cancelled because of their poor level of English proficiency.

In TribuneNow’s Spotlight show recently, US Embassy Cultural Attaché Matt Keener was asked by Daily Tribune’s Jojo Silvestre and Komfie Manalo about this matter.

Is the Philippines getting better in English or slipping?

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. There’s not a lot of really reliable measures out there. My goal is to make sure we continue to strengthen English because a lot of other countries in the region are really putting a big emphasis on building English. They’re starting from a much bigger deficit than the Philippines in most cases, but there’s some big investment in some countries and they’ve really been promoting in strengthening English. So, the Philippines can’t get complacent and I want to help,” he answered.

Keener, a career diplomat who has been in the country for more than a year, also shared his office’s initiatives in relation to learning and education. His office handles one important sub-section of the US Department of State: EducationUSA.

EducationUSA, according to its website, is “a US Department of State network of over 425 international student advising centers in more than 175 countries. The network promotes US higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive and current information about opportunities to study at accredited postsecondary institutions in the United States.”

Here are excerpts of the interview with Cultural Attaché Matt Keener:

US Cultural Attaché Matt Keener sat down for TribuneNow’s “Spotlight” and talked about his office’s functions and projects. ALL PHOTOS BY DAVID JOHN CUBANGBANG

Daily Tribune (DT): As a cultural attaché, what are the functions of your office?

Matt Keener (MK): My section is responsible for strengthening people-to-people ties between the US and the Philippines, as well as advancing US bilateral policy priorities through direct people-to-people engagements and exchanges.

DT: What can you consider the major accomplishments of your office in the country?

MK: It’s impossible to enumerate. There are countless successes that I can point to. First of all, it’s important to point out that the Philippines is one of our closest friends, partners and allies in the region. And through my office, we maintain and exchange relations with the Philippines that is one of the longest in the world.

The Fulbright Commission here just celebrated its 70th year here a year ago, which is the oldest continuing Fulbright program in the world. That’s the depth of our relationship. It’s one of the more than 30 exchanges that my office manages and through those, we send approximately 350 Filipinos on international exchanges every year.

Keener, a career diplomat who has been in the country for more than a year, also shared his office’s initiatives in relation to learning and education.

DT: How does one apply for any of these programs?

MK: The best way is to follow us on Facebook. Go to the embassy’s Facebook page because we announce every open application for any exchange program that we do, as well as visit the Fulbright website. In the Philippines, the Fulbright Commission is called the Philippine American Educational Foundation or PAEF. They also announce for any of their academic scholarships.

One of the biggest, emerging exchange scholarships we manage here recently is the Young Southeast Asian Leaders’ Initiatives (YSEALI). This is a region-wide initiative. It has 140,000 members in ASEAN plus Timor Leste. And here in the Philippines, we have more than 25,000 members. They sign up and apply for academic or professional exchanges.

MK: Ages 22 to 35. We call it the youth program, but I would like to highlight that these aren’t youth. These are emerging leaders, young adults, professionals, a variety of people, who are already serving high levels in their local governments; they’re vice mayors, vice governors, leaders of different community organizations. They’re really spectacular young people. One of them, for example, is a young woman named Anna Oposa. She was nominated as one of the 40 under 40 environmentalists of the world last year. She’s one of our favorite program partners for our YSEALI initiatives.

DT: Do you have statistics in relation to the scholars under your exchanges that are contributing to Philippine economy or society?

MK: As part of the Fulbright celebrations last year, we looked back at some of the most prominent Fulbright alumni and we’ve started a Fulbright Hall of Fame. We discovered we have National Artists, several prominent politicians. Because I know you are going to ask, Napoleon Abueva is a former Fulbright scholar. Others are Abdulmari Imao, Kidlat Tahimik and a number of politicians and business leaders.

MK: Yeah, in addition to promoting local exchanges, we have a variety of local exchanges and projects. We do a lot of different entrepreneurship programs that we work with different organizations like GoNegosyo. We’ve worked with prominent local people like Pia Wurtzbach, whom we’ve partnered with in other programs like LGBTQ-focused programs. She partnered with our women’s program last year in time for the Women’s History Month. That was a brief engagement.

We also have long-term partnerships with companies and organizations, whether it’s an implementing partners like Synergeia or The Asia Foundation. Synergeia work with a lot of our education programs. We’re partner with universities like the Ateneo School of Government on occasion. We work a lot with De La Salle University.

We have American Corner which are dedicated spaces for American culture, history and government. They are in universities. We have 14, including seven in Mindanao. These spaces can range to a size like this room to a whole library. In Cagayan de Oro, we have the whole floor of library there. It’s one of our premiere spaces in the country.

DT: Are you funding some Philippine programs that has to do with education?

MK: Yes. The focus of our diplomatic activities are education programs. One sub-section in my office is focused specifically in English programming and making sure that we don’t get complacent in the Philippines. We aim to continue to strengthen English in the Philippines. And making sure it is a competitive advantage in the Philippines. It has been for so long.

We call it youth program, but I would like to highlight that these aren’t youth. These are emerging leaders, young adults, professionals, a variety of people, who are already serving high levels in their local governments.

DT: What exactly do you do in terms of education, in terms of specific initiatives?

MK: An English program, for example — last year, we worked with the Department of Education (DepEd). We brought a specialist from the US to work with educational districts in the Philippines. We talked to them about challenges and best practices; then we brought all those teachers back to Manila for a conference to discuss these things. We’re working closely with DepEd on curriculum development. And then we sent about 16 of those teachers and administrators to the US for a two-week exchange program to learn best practices in teaching English in bi and multi-lingual communities. We gave them subsequent, small grants to implement initiatives in their home communities and try to spread the knowledge and strengthen English. We do a lot of programs like that.

DT: We’ve had young leaders who were recently elected to office like the mayor of Manila (Isko Moreno), the mayor of Pasig (Vico Sotto) and the mayor of San Juan (Francis Zamora). Are you planning to work with them?

MK: As much as possible. The Philippines is a young country, I mean more than half of the country is under 24 years old. There are 50 million Filipinos who are under the age of 24. We recognize that the younger population of the Philippines is very much the future and we will do as much as we can to empower that population especially as the Philippine economy continues to grow. The Philippines is right at the center of Asean and it is an important country for the entire APAC region. So, we’re dedicated to educating the younger population here and the emerging leaders.

DT: What do you think the younger people should take up in college?

MK: I personally think they should all consider the opportunity to study in the United States. One of my biggest priorities is to encourage more Filipinos to seek opportunities for overseas education, whether it’s a short-term program, a simple semester abroad or a full-degree program. I feel like the more people participate in student exchange, the more you strengthen the ties between two countries, long-term. It’s a formative experience in another country. Whether it’s an American coming into this country or a European in the US, that creates a lifelong bond. Right now, that’s one of the sub-sections of my office: EducationUSA.

MK: No. Just study in the US. Any Filipino that’s interested in studying in the US, we have an office in my section, the Culture Section, that can provide them with free advice and counsel to figure out how to pursue higher education in the US; how to look for financial aid, research programs; how to find the right university; how to go through the process of applying for a university, applying for the visa. We even provide a pre-departure orientation for people who have been accepted in a US university. That’s one of my biggest priorities right now — increase the number of Filipinos studying in the US, which is very low compared to some of the other countries in the region and considering you have these young, English-speaking population in the Philippines.

DT: You have many financial assistance programs?

MK: The US government itself doesn’t, but once you dig in at the universities in the US, a lot of them offer different financial aid opportunities, merit-based scholarships, needs-based scholarships, even for non-citizens. We have a long list of Filipino students who have received scholarships, small, very significant to full scholarships at US universities based either on their needs or on merit, outstanding academic or other skills.

DT: Of course, they have to take these entrance exams?

MK: If you’re going to a graduate school, yes. If it’s for an undergraduate program, then the SAT, which is our high school proficiency exam. But that’s another thing that we provide — counsel on how to take exam, what exams you’re going to need to take, how to prepare for those exams.

DT: Are you supporting Philippine literature in English?

MK: One of our programs is the International Writers Program. It’s an intensive program for premiere international writers. It’s a very small program, very select. We’ve been very good in the Philippines. We’ve been getting one or two writers on it every year, every other year.

DT: How can the Filipino youth avail of your programs?

MK: The US Embassy is dedicated to providing capacity-building opportunities, to empowering the Philippine youth, as the slogan for the YSEALI says, “You’re never too young to lead.” And we’d like to be here and support you so you will pursue those leadership endeavors. If you’re interested in finding out more about US programs, US opportunities, exchange opportunities, grants program, educational opportunities, check out the US Embassy at our Facebook page. Also have a look at the Philippine American Educational Foundation, Fulbright Commission of the Philippines for academic opportunities and EducationUSA Philippines if you’re interested in pursuing any higher education opportunities in US. Through all those resources, you can find out more about all the programs. We look forward to hearing from you.