Home⇛PCS Review⇛vol. 15 no. 1 (2023)

Revitalizing Philippine Rhetorical Education in the Age of Ineloquence

Oscar T Serquiña Jr

Discipline: Essay

 

Abstract:

Rhetorical education in the Philippines is largely rooted in Euro-American ideals of a public speaker and significantly gives high premium to a speaker’s communicative competence, linguistic virtuosity, and eloquence. However, this type of education is facing its limits nowadays, especially in light of political leaders in the country—Rodrigo Duterte, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and Imee Marcos—who, despite deviating from rhetorical norms and ideals, continuously gain power, authority, and influence in Philippine culture and society. This essay reflects upon the disjuncture between the prescribed rhetorical thought inside the university classroom and the actual rhetorical realities taking place in the country today. It argues for the urgent need not only to rethink the prevailing epistemological foundations and methodological operations of the study of rhetoric, but also to propose other lines of logic in examining lessthan-ideal rhetorical agents and practices. It suggests that in order for rhetorical education in the Philippines to remain relevant, it has to move past its highly Western conceptual frameworks, broaden its notion of rhetorical agency, and come up with a vocabulary that can account for the multidimensional capacities, contexts, personalities, and engagements of Filipino speakers.



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