Harvard University Paper: Filipino Language Course Funded by House Speaker Martin Romualdez

This story was updated on Sunday (September 17) with a statement from the office of House Speaker Martin Romualdez 

The first-ever Filipino language instructor position at Harvard University is being funded through an endowment by Rep. Martin Romualdez, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the university’s student paper the Harvard Crimson reported on Thursday (September 14). 

A report posted in the publication’s website, citing an unnamed source, said Romualdez has committed $2 million (about P113.5 million) as endowment for the Filipino (or Tagalog) language preceptor or instructor position

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FilAm, a magazine for Filipino Americans, first reported the donation in August, although the amount in that report was $1 million.

The FilAm report said Romualdez attended a dinner in April at the home of Geraldine Acuña-Sunshine, a Filipino-American member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. It was at that dinner that Romualdez was identified as the donor.

The 400-year-old university announced in March that it would be teaching Tagalog, the fourth most spoken language in the U.S., for the first time. 

Earlier this month, Harvard said it had found its first Tagalog language instructor, a teacher from Cavite named Lady Aileen Orsal.

According to the Harvard Crimson, funding for the preceptor position wasn’t guaranteed to last longer than three years until Romualdez’s pledge. 

Romualdez is a cousin of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Speaker Romualdez delivered a policy speech at the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in April before university officials, faculty members and students in Boston, Massachusetts about the future of the Philippines and United States alliance. 

“Our language is our pride!” he said in his speech. “And learning about Harvard’s new Tagalog language course, I am expressing my full support for the program,” Romualdez said in a press release Crimson quoted and which was also sent to Esquire Philippines. “I hope and pray that the Harvard Tagalog course will flourish and grow in the future to include many aspects of Filipino culture!

“The teaching of Tagalog at Harvard University is a source of great national pride,” he added. “The university is one of the top academic institutions in the world, if not the best. Its programs are emulated or duplicated in other institutions of higher learning. Kaya naman proud na proud tayo sa development na ito.”

Spokespersons for Harvard and the university’s Asia Center declined to comment on the donor’s identity, the Crimson reported, although James Robson, the director of the Asia Center has said in a previous interview that center programming “would not be influenced by any donor, regardless of their background or political agenda.”

“There’s a clear separation between any fundraising that’s done, and how the Asia Center operates,” Robson said.

The Crimson quoted the co-president of the Harvard Undergraduate Philippine Forum as saying that the focus should be on the existence of a Filipino language course at the university and not on the source of its funding.

“I’m just really, really grateful for the fact that the Filipino language is being taught at Harvard,” Jose Marco C. “Marcky” Antonio II said. “And it’s just really frustrating that this is sort of detracting from the fact that it’s such a major achievement.”

On Sunday, September 17, the office of House Speaker Martin Romualdez sent a statement to Esquire Philippines neither confirming nor denying the report tha he funded the endowment for the Filipino language instruction at Harvard. 

"In light of recent speculations regarding my alleged donation to Harvard University, I choose to respect the institution's gift policy," he said. 

"Harvard has already communicated that they 'do not discuss the terms or specifics of individual gifts,' and I stand by that principle."