does anybody still speak spanish in The Philipines?

Spanish is no longer in common use. We were taught in school that some people from Zamboanga (in the south island, Mindanao) still used it everyday. but I never met anyone from there, so I don't know if it is true.

A few years before I started college (in the 1990's), it was no longer mandatory to learn Spanish in college. Depending on how old a person is, they may or may not remember their college Spanish. My high school used to have it as part of the syllabus (to be able to read Jose Rizal's -- our national hero -- writings. in the original language), but that was also dropped, just before I got to high school *pout*.

(BTW, the Phils. was a Spanish colony for over _300_ years.)

Hola! Yes, there are still quite a few people who speak Spanish in the Philippines but the numbers are dwindling since it is no longer a required course in our curriculum. Our being under Spain for over 300 years is most evident in the heavy influence of Spanish words that have been incorporated into our local vernacular - Tagalog - and some of our dialects, notably Chavacano (as explained by ms. jan-na above). Gracias.

actually... only the families of 'illustrados' before until now preserve Spanish... Spanish is a selective subject in some schools in the Philippines, most are private and in college(Universities)... before, like in the '80's, you need to take Spanish before you graduate... most of the wealthy Filipinos in the Philippines speak Spanish as their 2nd language and so on...

there are also Spanish-based creole speakers in the Philippines, those are the native speakers of Spanish... such as the Chavacanos, TernateNos, CaviteNos, BatangueNos, Zamboangueños, etc... there are 2.9 million Spanish-speaking people in the Philippines in the '90's... and it's still growing... by now, there more than 3 million Spanish speaking people in the Philippines...

and let me correct you, we were occupied by the Spanish more or less 300 years...

Povedans (students from an exclusive school for girls) are taught Spanish in their Elementary and High School years. It's part of their curriculum. Some of them are fluent speakers.

In Ateneo, Spanish is also offered as a foreign language subjects. Students can also minor or choose it as a track under the European Studies course.

There are the citizens who actually majored in Spanish; and then there are locals who speak pidgin Spanish (Chavacano). Some areas in Mindanao still has the (generally) older population converse in Chavacano.

Spanish is included in the curriculum then,... it's not actually widely used. Chavacano is one variant of the spanish language and it is spoken in a province in zamboanga.

The spanish majors i assume can also speak spanish

"Sí hablo y escribo pocas palabra española."

meaning

"Yes I speak and write few spanish word."

I belong to the last batch of Spanish curriculum in the Philippines.

I got a low grade in Spanish when I was college but yeah I can still remember some common expressions.

Chavacano (from zamboanga), their spanish is a bit different from spanish. they use mostly the same words but the conjugation is lost or different.. so hard to explain.

but a chavacano can learn spanish easily (i, guess..)

and yes, i have a colleague that speaks spanish. that's her major in UP.

Jaime Fabregas does.

Yo quiero Taco Bell!

actually we adopt some of words in spanish and some people who have spanish-filipino blood in here still speaking spanish of course(+\\)