By Alastair McIndoe, Philippines Correspondent

MANILA - Filipinos pride themselves on their ability to speak English well.

But Malaysia, not the Philippines, topped 10 countries in East Asia in the results of an international English examination widely used by universities, employers and immigration authorities in Britain, Australia and the United States.

To be fair, Malaysia beat the Philippines by just a nose. But the International English Language Testing System's (IELTS) scores will likely harden perceptions among concerned groups in the Philippines that its English standards are slipping.

The academic version of the test is mainly used by students applying to universities and employers hiring professionals in countries where English is not the first language. Singapore was not included in the results of 41 countries.

Last year's results were presented at a recent symposium in Manila. It prompted assurances from the government that it is working to improve the standards of English taught in state-run schools.

Two main reasons for the falling standards were given by Mr Andrew King, country director for the Philippines of IDP Education, a member of the British- Australian consortium that operates the IELTS: The quality of English teaching is declining and less English is spoken on local television stations.

The Philippines adopted a bilingual policy 35 years ago using English and a local language as mediums of instruction.

About 35,000 Filipinos - 70 per cent of them nursing graduates applying for jobs abroad - took the IELTS exam last year to evaluate their English proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Malaysians taking the test were mostly applying for study visas, said Mr King.

Out of a possible nine points, Malaysians scored an average of 6.71 for the four skills tested, putting them third in the global ranking after South Africa and Germany. Filipinos scored 6.69.

Hong Kong, which uses the IELTS as a compulsory exit test for graduates, scored 6.31. Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia scored below six.

Malaysians were broadly better at reading and listening, while Filipinos were better at writing and speaking English.

For business consultant Peter Wallace, an Australian who has lived in the Philippines for 30 years, English comprehension skills among the locals have declined the sharpest.

Certainly, the biggest long-term obstacle to the Philippines' so-far booming call centre and business outsourcing sector is recruiting enough graduates with the required English skills. Right now, only three in every 100 applicants make the grade, according to industry estimates.

'In fairness, the Department of Education is trying its best, but unfortunately, this generation of teachers does not have the capability,' said Mr Wallace.

Presidential spokesman Lorelei Fajardo told reporters that the government is spending 1.1 billion pesos (S$32.2 million) to improve the English, maths and science skills of nearly 400,000 teachers in state-run schools.

Legislation is also pending in Congress to reinstate English as the prime medium of instruction from the third grade.

As things stand, everyday conversations are often a mishmash of English and Tagalog, the most widely spoken of the Philippine languages. That even has the status of a language for one mobile- phone network: 'Press one to speak English; press two to speak Taglish,' says its voice-recorded operator.