Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled::
Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the "Commission on the Filipino Language Act."
Section 2. Declaration of Policy. Pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution, it is hereby declared to be a policy, of the Government to ensure and promote the evolution, development and further enrichment of Filipino as the national language of the Philippines, on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. To this end, the Government shall take the necessary steps to carry out the said policy.
Section 3. Definition of Terms. As used in this Act, the following terms and defined as follows:
(a) Commission – refers to the Commission on the Filipino Language.
(b) Chairman – refers to the Chairman of the Commission.
(c) Filipino – refers to the national language of the Philippines.
(d) Philippine languages – refers to the indigenous languages of the Philippines, including the national language and the regional and local languages.
(e) Regional language – refers to the lingua franca or the commonly spoken language of a region.
(f) Major language – refers to a language spoken and used by at least one-fiftieth (1/50) or two percent (2%) of all Filipinos, based on the most recent available data of the National Census Office.
(g) Auxiliary language – refers to a particular language, spoken in certain places, which supports or helps the national and/or official languages in their assigned functions.
(h) Other languages – refer to foreign languages, whether official or not, as long as they have influenced the indigenous languages and cultures to a certain degree.
(i) Ethnolinguistic regions – refer to certain geographical areas where particular groups of people speak a common language.
(j) Disciplines – refer to various fields of learning.
Section 4. Creation of the Commission on the Filipino Language. There is hereby created a commission to be known as the Commission on the Filipino Language, composed of representatives of various ethnolinguistic groups and different disciplines, which shall undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages and which shall be directly under the Office of the President.
Section 5. Composition of the Commission. The Commission shall be composed of eleven (11) commissioners, one of whom shall serve as Chairman. The commissioners shall represent the major Philippine languages, as defined in Section 3 of this Act: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and the major language of Muslim Mindanao; the Northern Cultural Communities; the Southern Cultural Communities; and such other Philippine languages or ethnolinguistic regions as the Commission may decide upon: provided, that at least four (4) of these commissioners shall also represent various disciplines.
The Chairman and two (2) of the commissioners shall serve on a full-time basis; the remaining eight (8) shall serve on a part-time basis and shall attend the regular and special meetings of the Commission.
Section 6. Appointment and Qualifications of Commissioners. The commissioners shall be appointed by the President, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, from the list of nominees to be submitted by the different ethnolinguistic regions in the country. The President shall appoint the eleven (11) commissioners the Chairman and the two (2) full-time commissioners. The President shall likewise appoint from the remaining eight (8) commissioners, four (4) commissioners who shall serve for a term of five (5) years and four (4) who shall serve for a term of three (3) years. In the absence of the Chairman, the commissioners shall choose a temporary or acting chairman from the two (2) full-time commissioners.
No one shall be appointed as commissioner unless he/she is a natural-born Filipino citizen, at least thirty (30) years old, morally upright an noted for his/her expertise in linguistics, the culture and language of the ethnolinguistic region and the discipline he/she represents.
Section 7. Term of Office. The Chairman and the two (2) full-time commissioners shall serve for a term of seven (7) years. Four (4) of the remaining commissioners shall serve for a term of five (5) years and the four (4) other commissioners, for a term of three (3) years. The commissioners may be reappointed for a maximum of one (1) term by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.