Executive Summary

Why it matters

Romans is the theological backbone of the New Testament, and Filipino carries a risk profile unlike any other language in this cohort: the Philippines is a majority-Catholic culture with centuries of orthodox catechesis already affirming Christ’s deity, Sonship, and resurrection, so the real risk lies not in doctrinal denial but in folk-devotional practice quietly substituting for core doctrine, most sharply around salvation, sainthood, and intercession.

Key findings

• The registry tracks 40 doctrines across Romans 1-16; only 15 require mandatory human theologian review (3 Critical, 12 High), the smallest theologian-review count of any language in this Language Package’s cohort so far.
• Salvation, Sainthood, and Prayer and Intercession are the only three Critical-risk doctrines, and each is Critical for the same underlying reason: an established, correct Filipino word (kaligtasan, mga banal, pamamagitan) is also the exact vocabulary of a specific, extremely common folk-Catholic devotional practice.
• Unlike languages contending with a rival religion’s competing cosmology, Filipino’s risk is concentrated in devotional emphasis and practice rather than doctrinal statement — the Catechism already affirms the same core Christology this curriculum teaches.
• Only 3 of 40 doctrines (Thanksgiving, Mutual Edification, Christian Fellowship) are Low-risk and clear for automated review alone.

Risks

• Saint-intercession substitution: pamamagitan ng mga santo, prayer through Mary or a particular saint for specific needs, is a central daily devotional practice; using pamamagitan for Christ’s intercession without a clarifying note risks presenting him as one intercessor among many rather than the unique mediator.
• Ritual-guaranteed salvation: folk practice can treat the sacraments as mechanically securing salvation apart from genuine faith, risking a hollowed-out version of Romans’ faith-alone argument.
• Reciprocal-debt grace: utang na loob, the deeply held Filipino value of a gratitude-debt requiring repayment, is a natural but doctrinally opposite frame for grace as an unearned, no-strings gift.

Opportunities

• Because core Christology is already well established in Filipino catechesis, this curriculum can spend more of its teaching effort on Romans’ distinctive argument (grace apart from merit, assurance of salvation) rather than defending basic doctrinal facts against denial.
• Filipino Protestant Bible tradition (Ang Biblia, Magandang Balita Biblia) already provides settled, well-understood vocabulary for the highest-priority proper nouns (Diyos, Jesus, Espiritu Santo).

Recommended actions

• Route every Critical and High risk segment (15 of 40 doctrines) through human theologian review before publication; do not allow automated-only review to touch these terms.
• Brief native-speaker reviewers specifically on folk-Catholic devotional vocabulary (pamamagitan ng mga santo, anting-anting, utang na loob, bahala na), which automated glossary enforcement alone cannot catch.
• Reuse this Language Package’s translation_memory.json for every Romans lesson in Filipino rather than re-deriving terms per document, per the two-phase pipeline design.