Bank transactions in Filipino

A bill is pending at the House of Representatives (House Bill No. 6340) that will require banks, lending and financing companies, quasi-banks, cooperatives and nongovernment organizations that offer loans to the public to have their transaction documents and communications written in Filipino or in the dialect being used in their place of business.

In addition, the entities mentioned shall be obliged to, among others, give the borrower the option to enter into a loan agreement and have its terms and conditions explained in his or her chosen language or dialect.

The bill aims “to protect the right of the consumer to exercise a sound and informed choice and their right to access to credit.”

Failure to comply with those requirements would give rise to the imposition of fines or the suspension and cancellation of the secondary license of the erring party.

The objective of the bill is laudable, but its implementation (assuming it is enacted into law) could give rise to some linguistic problems.

Note that although the Philippines is reputed to have the fourth largest English-speaking population in the world (after the United States, India and Pakistan), the reality is that facility is primarily confined to Filipinos who have, at the minimum, finished high school.

For those who did not reach that level of education, their comprehension of or ability to speak conversational English is often inadequate.

They would probably suffer a “nosebleed” if the written or spoken English they are confronted with goes beyond what they can remember from their school classes or what they hear on radio or television.

The bill fits their situation.

Drafting loan documents in Filipino or any dialect would not be a problem if they are simple IOUs, or where the borrower promises to pay a small loan with a fixed interest payable within, say, a year.

Since that kind of transaction may not put the lender at serious risk in the unlikely event the borrower reneges on the loan, its documentation may not go beyond five pages or even less.

But not when the loan is substantial, e.g., over a million pesos, is covered by a mortgage, is payable through amortization payments for an extended period of time or has terms and conditions that aim to ensure the prompt payment of the loan.

Under those circumstances, the lender has to require, as a matter of prudence and in compliance with regulatory rules, the inclusion of certain provisions in the loan agreement.

It will not be easy (or even practical) for those provisions that already have standard phraseology and meaning in English to be translated to Filipino or any dialect.

What would be the appropriate translation, for example, of “mortgage in escrow,” “affirmative covenants,” “negative covenants,” “financial ratios,” or “events of default”?

It is doubtful if the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino can come up with an accurate or acceptable translation from the point of view of the lending companies of those phrases.

Note that France, which zealously guards the purity of its language and for that purpose has a government office that provides the French equivalent of non-French words, has recognized that there are certain words and phrases in English that cannot be translated or converted to French, such as those that relate to computer technology and medicine.

And who would have the final say in deciding whether the Filipino or dialect translation is accurate in light of differences in nuances in the context at which certain words in Filipino or any dialect are used?

Knowing how some people can be fanatically devoted to the correct use of their dialect, a “word war” may arise in conflicts in translation.

Surely, there are other effective ways of protecting less educated Filipinos from bank or loan frauds other than rewriting bank documents that satisfactorily meet the requirements of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. INQ

For comments, please send your email to “[email protected].”