Philippines

I know you're asking that in the context of Philippines but I kept coming back to your post.

It has happened many-many times throughout history. By erasing people's language and culture you erase their identity. They would become members of the new motherland and rebelling seems pointless because there's nowhere to go back to. I mean, you'd still live in your country but why would you fight English media and books if you don't have them in your national language?

A friend of mine from Sierra Leone had a similar experience to yours, the school is English only. At home they spoke pidgin, a broken mix of English and their local dialect.

This wiki article is about the history of Irish language. The chapter about 18-19 century covers almost wiping out Gaelic by catholic church.

Soviet union implemented russification to their territory. This wiki article about geographical distribution of Russian speakers describes the situation in post Soviet countries.

The measures used for russification included deportations after WW2. All men had to do a mandatory military service for 2 years and were shipped to the other end of the union, making sure they can only use Russian for the next two years, hopefully finding a missus around there and never returning to his roots. There's many more examples like that.

Sorry, I got carried away. Please, find people to practice Tagalog and Bisaya with, and I hope you'll find a book shop or a library or a website to get some written materials.

My daughter's school (not international or anything elite) has EOP. It's favorable to her because her first language is English - thanks to growing up watching educational shows that are mostly available only in English. I'm not against it either because if you want to make it big, you need to be really good with English. That's just the way how the world works.

They do have a Filipino subject and observes "Linggo ng Wika" (fucking hell getting her to memorize and perform an entire Filipino poem was a pain). The household is also tagalog-speaking.

I'm from EU and we had this rule only during English class after we progressed past the basics, to make sure we learn to speak in normal conversation.

We always had many languages in EU and many ppl speak at least two.

I wouldn't worry about forgetting how to think in your regional language, because fluent speakers can switch the language they think in on the fly.

More worrisome is the effect on your regional culture. Make sure regional songs, plays and stories won't be lost. It's not just for tourism, but also important for cultural identity.

we visited a museum showcasing the local Filipino culture

I daresay you name that museum, it needs to be known so that we are properly warned.

Have you guys experienced these policies?

Rarely in my experience since because I was educated in public schools and there is no language enforcement and never been tapped on the shoulder just because of a language to speak.

is it all just for the prestige?

With regionalism being strong in some places, there are some Bisaya -- either Cebuano, Ilonggo, or Waray, etc. -- who see Tagalog as a form of "cultural imperialism" from so-called "Imperial Manila" and as such they would actively or passively oppose it, and instead rather use English as a bridge language to try talking with other Filipinos from other parts of the country. Yeah, and some have weaponized language to the extent they would give certain perks and privileges to those speaking their own language.

In addition, some individuals or organizations are enforcing the concept that English is a language of the "educated" or the "civilized", and asking people to leave their regional language behind their homes.

Tell them to go back to England

Have you guys experienced these policies?

I studied in a school that has this policy. Hot take, I like it in retrospect. I can speak Filipino in Filipino class and outside of school hours. Monolingualism is even worse. We can speak our mother tongues, and at the same time be comfortable in a lingua franca that most countries can understand. Every language has its specific quirk on how its speaker understands the world. Being able to speak 2 (or 3 or more) languages gives you additional valuable perspectives.

Gets ko ang backlash ay yung mga policies na nagbabawal gumamit ng wika kahit sa araw araw na buhay, gaya ng Kulturkampf noong binawal ng Alemanya ang pagsalita ng Polako sa buhay pampubliko.

In a school i can understand a rule like this because it can quickly become a sort of secret language the teachers don't understand.

Same reason in some discord chats, mods need to know who posted what that is against the rules without knowing every nuanced meaning in every language.

In some (professional) events or games its important that all parties can understand each other.

But adults in public settings? Ridiculous and not enforceable. Doesn’t seem legal either but i can see the third world USA try things like this for racist reasons nonetheless.