Philippines’ English edge enters new era

Philippines’ English edge enters new era

Pushkar Saran
The Manila Times
November 1, 2026

AS THE Philippines’ 2026 Asean Chairship nears its conclusion, the question is shifting from what the country achieved during its year at the helm to how it can carry that momentum forward.

The Chairship theme, “Navigating Our Future, Together,” provides a useful lens for what comes next. Its priorities — Peace and Security Anchors, Prosperity Corridors and People Empowerment — point to the forces now reshaping Asean: deeper economic integration, faster digital transformation and a stronger focus on people-centered growth.

For the Philippines, sustaining that momentum will require more than investment and technology. It will depend on whether its workforce has the skills to compete, collaborate and lead in a more digital and international economy.

The policy direction is already taking shape. The National Education and Workforce Development Plan 2026–2035 puts education, skills and employment on the same track, backed by reforms to strengthen work immersion, technical and vocational training, and preparation for future jobs.

English proficiency should be central to that agenda.

The Philippines’ English-speaking workforce has long been a source of economic strength, helping make the country a global hub for business process outsourcing and services. But that advantage is entering a new era.

English skills in the age of AI

In the age of AI, English is no longer just a language for speaking to overseas customers or colleagues. It is becoming a gateway skill that helps professionals work across borders, navigate technical information, access global knowledge and use AI tools with greater confidence and precision.

The TOEIC 2026 Global English Skills Report makes the shift clear. Ninety percent of employers surveyed globally said English proficiency is critical to their organization’s success, while 92 percent said it is more important now than it was five years ago. Crucially, 81 percent said AI integration is increasing the need for workplace English proficiency — evidence that AI is not reducing the value of communication skills but instead raising the bar for them.

That shift is especially relevant as the Philippines accelerates its own AI agenda. The government is introducing AI into education and expanding AI-related skills training to prepare Filipinos for a changing workplace. But readiness will not be defined by technical training alone. As AI becomes embedded in everyday work, the ability to ask better questions, interpret information and communicate clearly will become just as important as knowing how to use the tools themselves.

AI can translate text, generate drafts and process information at speed. What it cannot replace is human judgment. Workers still need to frame precise prompts, test assumptions, evaluate outputs and explain decisions to teams, customers and partners. In practice, digital fluency, AI capability and communication skills will need to advance together.

For the Philippines, this creates a powerful opening: to move beyond preserving its English advantage and use it as a platform for higher-value, AI-enabled work. The countries and workforces that benefit most from AI will not only be those that adopt new technologies fastest, but also those that can combine technical capability with the communication skills needed to turn innovation into impact.

From skills development to global recognition

The Philippines’ domestic reform agenda also fits within a wider regional shift. Just last month, the 14th Asean Plus Three Labor Ministers Meeting convened under the theme “Advancing Asean Human Capital: Skills Certification towards Global Recognition,” underscoring a regionwide push to make skills more visible, trusted and portable.

Skills create opportunities only when they can be recognized. As Asean economies become more connected, workers need more than training certificates or job titles. They need credible ways to prove what they can do in terms that employers, institutions and partners across borders can understand and trust.

The Philippines is already moving in this direction. The Tesda Skills Passport, launched this year, is designed to document competencies and connect Filipinos with training and employment opportunities. By making skills easier to record, verify and carry across contexts, it complements Asean’s broader effort to strengthen skills recognition and mobility.

English proficiency should be part of the same recognition effort. It helps workers turn technical ability into trusted, cross-border value, whether they are engineers collaborating with international teams, digital professionals working with AI tools or managers coordinating operations across markets.

Reliable, verifiable assessment makes that capability visible, helping workers demonstrate communication skills with confidence, employers identify talent more effectively and educators pinpoint where gaps remain.

Turning an existing advantage into future competitiveness

The Philippines now has a chance to connect priorities already moving in the same direction: education reform, stronger pathways from school to work, AI readiness, skills recognition and international competitiveness.

English proficiency can be the connective tissue across all of them.

For schools and universities, that means connecting language learning more directly with workplace communication. For employers, it means treating communication as a core part of upskilling as AI reshapes jobs. For policymakers, it means placing language capability alongside digital and technical competencies in workforce strategy.

This agenda must also be inclusive. The Philippines’ English advantage should not be limited to those who already have access to strong schools, international workplaces or professional training. Expanding access to effective language learning and trusted assessment can support social mobility as well as national competitiveness.

That ambition speaks directly to the “People Empowerment” dimension of the Philippines’ Asean Chairship. Regional integration only delivers on its promise when more people are equipped to benefit from it.

As 2026 draws toward its close, the Philippines does not need to choose between investing in technology and investing in people. Its next growth agenda depends on doing both.

For decades, English proficiency has been one of the Philippines’ clearest strengths in the global economy. The task now is to make that advantage work harder: combining it with stronger digital, technical and AI capabilities, and with credible ways for workers to prove what they can do. That is how the Philippines can turn a long-standing strength into future competitiveness and carry the momentum of its Asean Chairship into its next phase of growth.

Pushkar Saran is the executive director for South and Southeast Asia at Educational Testing Service (ETS), a US-based nonprofit educational assessment and research organization best known for developing and administering standardized tests used for education, English-language proficiency assessment and professional development.