Mandaue street signs in Cebuano?
By Dale G. Israel
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 07:33:00 02/02/2008
Imagine reading Mandaue City's traffic signs and billboards in both
English and Cebuano.
A proposal to have bilingual signboards instead of just English text
will be discussed in the Mandaue City Council next week.
Councilor Victor Biaño is proposing an ordinance that would require
Cebuano translations in all the texts appearing in billboards and
traffic signs.
"Every Cebuano-speaking person must be proud of his own tongue and
should be able to project it to others in order to expand the usage to
more people," said Biaño, who is Mandaue chapter president of the
Cebuano language advocacy group, Lubas sa Dagang Binisaya (Ludabi).
In an interview, Biaño said other countries post traffic signs in two
language. He cited Japan as an example where signs appear in English
alongside Japanese characters.
"One of the better ways to project the Cebuano language is to use it on
traffic signs, Welcome and Thank You signs at boundaries and other
directional signs, which are some of the first things that a non-Cebuano
will see upon arrival in Mandaue City," he said.
The draft resolution, which will be discussed on Wednesday, suggests
penalties for violators.
The penalties include a P5,000 fine or imprisonment of 30 days, or both
at the discretion of the court.
Private advertising agencies that don't comply with the ordinance would
have to pay an additional P2,000 fine and would be asked to immediately
remove their material.
Biaño's proposed ordinance designates the Engineering Office and the
Office of the Building Official (OBO) as the implementing agency.
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