Is Baybayin really set to change the way we write?
Can you imagine making a grocery list in Baybayin script?
The idea is not far-fetched.
Last April, the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture approved the proposed “National Writing System Act,” which will require all manufacturers of locally-produced food products to include corresponding Baybayin translation on their labels.
Authored by 2nd District of Pangasinan Representative Leopoldo Bataoil, House Bill 1022 also seeks to insert Baybayin translations to newspaper and magazine mastheads and signages for streets, government buildings and other public facilities likes hospitals, fire and police stations, and community centers.
Bataoil’s campaign started in 2011, when he made a privilege speech to the same august halls, for his proposed House Bill 4395 (“An Act Providing for the Protection and Conservation of Baybayin, and Declaring Baybayin as the National Script of the Philippines”).
The bills were supported by the Department of Education (DepEd), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the advocacy group Baybayin Buhayin.
While in the Senate, a similar proposal, the Senate Bill 433, which also seeks to declare Baybayin as the National Writing System of the Philippines, remained pending since it was filed by Senator Loren Legarda in 2016.
But what really is Baybayin? And why has it been gaining ground?
Millennials have been introduced to Baybayin in school, as part of the lesson in the history of Philippine languages.
Senior High School students are taught how to write Baybayin through the core subject ‘Komunikasyon at Pananaliksik sa Wika at Kulturang Pilipino.’
Poet-musician and college instructor Joel Costa Malabanan said he started teaching Baybayin to his Grade 5 students more than two decades ago.
“Nagimula akong magturo ng Baybayin sa klase ko sa Sibika at Kultura noong 1995. Iyong isa kong estudyante, si Levi Miranda, na isang engineer na ngayon, ay nakabuo na ng sarili niyang Omiglot system ng Baybayin,” he related.
The students did not have a hard time picking up the lesson since, he explained, “Naipaliwanag ko naman na bahagi ito ng pagtatangkang buuin ang pagkakakilanlan nating mga Pilipino.”
Malabanan was able to continue his advocacy when he started teaching Filipino to high school students in 1997. One of his students was Ivan Despi, even designed a Baybayin translation of the word ‘matanglawin,’ for a TV show.
“Mali pa ang unang design dahil per letter ang ginawa ni Ivan. Itinama ko pa sa PM ko sa kanya sa Multiply, wala pang FB noon,” he said.
When Malabanan transferred to Philippine Normal University (PNU), he started teaching Baybayin in the course subject ‘Masining na Pagpapahayag.’
“Ikinatutuwa naman ito ng mga magiging guro, lalo pa at sa pagsulat nila ng Tanaga at Dalit ay pinalalagyan ko ng Baybayin.”
Tanaga and Dalit are four-lined forms of native poetry in the country.
Baybayin Chasers
The wave of interest in Baybayin has lead to something similar to “storm chasing.” Netizens habitually post sightings of Baybayin on social networking sites under the hashtag #baybayinspotted.
Hobbyists meanwhile share their own handwritten Baybayin translations of phrases with pride. Tattoo enthusiasts have their skin inked with Baybayin “tribal” designs, while artists incorporate Baybayin in their pastel or watercolor art.
US-based artist Norman de los Santos create calligraphy art where he fused Baybayin letters fuse with each other to form the figure they represent together.
Even before Bataoil’s HB 1022 was approved in the House committee, enthusiasts have already created unofficial Baybayin graphic designs for commercial brands.
Using de los Santos’s fonts, Johnrel Buenaventura Lor and Obet Montales of the Facebook group Famous Logos in Baybayin Script and etc. have created logos of commercial brands known in the country.
Several Baybayin mobile applications have also been made available to the public, including the Baybayin Keyboard and the Baybayin translator.
Last April, graphic design studio TeamManila won Gold at the adobo Design Awards Asia (aDAA) 2018, under the Typography (Applied Typography) Category, for creating the ‘Baybayin New’ typeface.
Graphic designer Lloyd Zapanta, who was also known for making Baybayin logos for commercial brands, launched his own Baybayin fonts and on his Behance account, Zapanta made available for free downloads a few fonts like ‘Baybayin Sisil’ (Baybayin Brush Font) and ‘Baybayin Sarimanok’ (Baybayin Display Font).
Zapanta’s first Baybayin project was the ‘Bayani Baybayin’ font, which he launched in March 2015.
“Ginawa ko ang Baybayin font na iyon dahil gusto kong ibahagi kung papaano ko maipapakita na maaaring maging digital ang Baybayin sa pamamagitan ng paggawa ng iba’t ibang istilo ng pag-type o font style gaya ng sa ibang mga alpasilabaryo ng Thai, Korean, at Japanese,” he explained.
According to Zapanta, millennials like him must engage themselves in learning the precolonial script. “Para sa akin, mahalaga na malaman natin kung ano pa ang natitira sa ating pagkakakilanlan, at sana’y isa ang Baybayin sa mga makakapagpabuhay ng interes ng mga Pilipino sa ating sariling kultura ng pakikipag-usap,” he said.
Difference of Opinion
But Zapanta did not welcome the approval of HB 1022.
“Kahit isa akong tagahanga ng Baybayin, hindi ako sumasang-ayon na ibalik ito agad bilang pambansang sistema ng pagsulat,” he admitted.
He believes that this is not the right time to restore Baybayin since most Filipinos are not yet adept in writing the script.
“Kung nais ng pamahalaan na ibalik ito, kinakailangan ng mabusising pag-aaral mula sa mga lingguwista at mga eksperto sa iba’t ibang mga sangay ng gobyerno, upang makatiyak na walang maiiwan sa paglipat ng Pilipinas mula sa Alpabetong Roman sa Baybayin.”
Zapanta also pointed out that Baybayin was tailored for the Tagalog people. There are other indigenous scripts in the country, like Kulitan of the Kapampangan people, Hanunó’o of the Mangyan people in southern Mindoro, and Badlit of the Visayan people.
In order for us to have a legitimate National Writing System, it must go with the modern times and consider all the scripts of the country.
“Kailangang gumawa ang pamahalaan ng isang grupo na lilikha ng bagong sistema ng pagsulat kung saan ito ay magagamit sa kasalukuyang paggamit ng wika sa buong bansa, at kung saan ito ay bubuuin ng mga letrang hango sa lahat ng sistema ng pagsulat upang walang kulturang maiwan,” Zapanta explained.
The young designer may have found an ally in former senator Pia Cayetano.
The incumbent Representative of the 2nd District of Taguig City made a few proposed amendments on House Bill 1022, one of which was a proposed deletion of “Section 3. Declaration of Baybayin as the National Writing System of the Philippines.”
Cayetano proposed to change the term "Baybayin" to the Philippine Indigenous/Traditional Writing Systems to “make the bill more inclusive, as it will cover all kinds of writing system in the Philippines.”
It is misguided, she said, to use “the term ‘Baybayin’ to refer to ‘all ancient and traditional scripts of the Philippine indigenous peoples’” and to declare “it as the ‘National Writing System of the Philippines’ because Baybayin simply refers to one (Tagalog) writing system.”
PNU Professor Kevin Paul Martija even warned that the move will set off a “false sense of nationalism.”
Power in Unity
Malabanan, however, argued against Martija’s claim, saying that regionalism has no room in the campaign.
It should not cause fear among disbelievers, he said, because declaring Baybayin as the “official writing” will not destroy the system that we are already using.
For example, “Kung gagamit ng Baybayin para sa mga salitang English at technical terms, kailangang pantigin muna sa ito Filipino. Kung kaya, pababibilisin nito ang pag-andukha, o ang pag-angkin ng ating wika sa mga terminong dayo.
“Iluluwal na mismo ng ganitong paraan ang ‘indigenization’ at pagsasakonteksto ng isang kaalaman patungo sa atin mismong kamalayan at kultura. Kung patuloy na payayabungin ang Wikang Filipino at gagamitin ang Baybayin, ang susunod na henerasyon ang makikinabang sa pagpupunyaging maaaring pasimulan natin ngayon sa kasalukuyan.”
But concerns on proclaiming Baybayin as the National Writing System do not end with HB 1022.
Last month, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino’s Bantayog-Wika project had sparked criticism when it installed a monument in Occidental Mindoro to confer honor on the Mangyan language.
Etched on the ten-foot bamboo structure were three stanzas lifted from Andres Bonifacio’s poem “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa.”
Alas, the stanzas were written in Baybayin.
Advocates argue that if the project really aimed to honor the Mangyan heritage, the text should have been written instead in Hanunó’o script.
Rev. Jose Jaime Enage, founding chairman of Baybayin Buhayin and Taklobo Baybayin Inc., said that he was asked by the language commission to prepare the text for Bantayog-Wika. He explained that he used the Tawbid Ukit script for the transliteration.
The pastor is expected to shed light on Baybayin issues at the 4th Baybayin Festival, organized by Taklobo Baybayin Inc.
Carrying the theme “Baybayin: Bilang Pambansang Panulat,” the festival will be held on August 20 in Marikina City. Representatives Bataoil and Cayetano are also slated to speak in the event.
Source: Angeles, M. (2018). Is Baybayin really set to change the way we write. Retrieved on May 15, 2019 from: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/664480/is-baybayin-really-set-to-change-the-way-we-write/story/
The New Generation Currency (NGC) Coin Series released this year also have the Baybayin script for “Pi” as it’s mint mark.
Team Manila's winning entry to the typography category at the Adobo Design Awards Asia 2018 is a typeface that incorporates the Baybayin into its design. Photo courtesy of TEAM MANILA
‘Baybayin New’: Could this be our national font?
Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — When the House Committee approved Baybayin as the national writing system, some Filipinos online expressed their disapproval, saying that it’s too Tagalog-centric or that it only serves an aesthetic purpose rather than provide a substantial value.
But recently, graphic design studio Team Manila won gold at the the Adobo Design Awards Asia 2018 for the typography category. The studio, known for creating lifestyle products that showcase day-to-day elements people see in the Philippines (jeepneys, Jose Rizal, tapsilog, etc.), submitted case studies of typefaces called ‘Baybayin New,’ which incorporated the Baybayin into their designs.
With the new bill, local government units will be required to include Baybayin on locally produced products as well as signages of public facilities, publishers of newspapers and magazines will also have to show Baybayin translations on their platforms, and government agencies will be obliged to circulate Baybayin reading materials to schools and universities, among others.
These impending requirements could certainly shape not only the agencies’ and studios’ approach to design but these could also mold how Filipinos think, feel, and behave. Typefaces have been known to display historical connections. As such, they have been a “microcosmic representation of culture,” and once Baybayin inscriptions are put in public spaces in the country, they can easily seep into a nation’s collective consciousness.
“We chose Baybayin as the main component of our design in our belief that taking inspiration from our roots is significant to make today’s generation become aware and educated about it,” says Oliver P. Santiago, the studio’s designer who created the final art of the Baybayin New as a typeface.
The creation of the winning typeface was a collaborative effort among the members of Team Manila — from account executives and copywriters to graphic designs and creative directors. Amid several parties disagreeing on what the ramifications would be of having Baybayin in our everyday lives, Santiago and the team behind Team Manila are certain that it could only contribute to our knowledge of the Filipino heritage, and in turn, enrich our culture.
Learning Baybayin: Reconnecting with our Filipino roots
It was a curious thing, the Spanish (among them the conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi) noted, as they explored parts of the country they named after their then ruler. The natives had their own government and religion, and their own writing system – markers of civilization. And the writing system was used extensively, not just by leaders or the elite, but by ordinary people, men and women, young and old, alike. The early Filipinos wrote not just to record; they wrote letters, poems, prayers, and incantations.
The use of Baybayin, one of the country’s surat or writing systems, in particular, was widespread especially in Luzon and Visayas that Spanish friars studied it to teach Catholicism to Filipinos. Part of the catechism book Doctrina Christiana, believed to be one of the first books published in the country, is printed in Baybayin.
Eventually, as Filipinos learned the Latin alphabet, use of Baybayin began to die out. Documentations written in native writing systems were also destroyed, with one Spanish priest even boasting of destroying over three hundred scrolls, anthropologist Otley Beyer writes.
Often mistakenly known as alibata, a word with Arabic origin, Baybayin literally means “baybay,” or “to spell” in Filipino. It is an alphasyllabary, with characters standing for syllables based on consonants, as opposed to an alphabet corresponding to single letters.
Baybayin has 14 characters, 4 of them vowels, while others are combinations of consonants and the vowel “a.” To change the vowel and sound, one needs to put a mark on top of the character (for the “e-i” sound) or bottom (for the “o-u” sound).
The Spanish added the cross mark to indicate stand-alone consonants as the original Baybayin does not have it. “Bathala” (God), for example, is written in Baybayin as “Bahala” but is read and understood by Filipinos as “Bathala.” With the introduction of the cross, though, the Spanish can add the character “ta” with a cross at the bottom to show the “t” in “Bathala.”
Like other Southeast Asian writing systems, Baybayin and the rest of the country’s ancient writing systems like the Tagbanua in Palawan and the Hanunoo-Mangyan in Mindoro, may have come from India’s ancient scripts.
Ramon Guillermo, University of the Philippines professor of Philippine Studies and author of studies on Baybayin, notes in a Baybayin lecture that while many Asian writing systems originate from India’s own ancient script, the countries which adopted it modified it according to their context and culture.
The Philippines’ writing systems are closest to Indonesia’s, and are theorized to come from there, though Guillermo says that the two countries may have also influenced each other. The Laguna Copperplate, said to be the earliest known written document in the Philippines, is in fact written in Indonesia’s old Sanskrit Kawi script.
Source: Madarang, R. C. (2018). Learning Baybayin: Reconnecting with our Filipino roots. Retrieved on May 15, 2019 from: https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/arts-and-culture/210657-reconnecting-filipino-roots-baybayin
House panel approves use of Baybayin as country's national writing system
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos may have to learn to write in and read Baybayin, a pre-Spanish script of the Philippines, after a House committee approved a bill designating it as the country’s official national writing system.
The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved House Bill 1022, or the proposed “National Writing System Act," which seeks to declare Baybayin as the Philippines’ national writing system, generate a greater awareness on its plight and develop wider appreciation for its importance and beauty.
The bill, filed by Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (Pangasinan), was supported by the Department of Education, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Buhayin, a Baybayin advocacy group.
“The importance of writing in general and of the alphabet in particular for the preservation and progress of civilization is incalculable,” Bataoil said in a press release from the House Press and Public Affairs Bureau.
If passed into law, the measure will require all manufacturers of locally-produced food products to inscribe Baybayin scripts and provide a Baybayin translation on their labels.
The proposed law will also mandate local government units to included Baybayin signs for street names, public facilities, public buildings and other necessary signage for public offices like hospitals, fire and police stations, community centers and government halls.
Newspapers and other print publications will also be required to provide a Baybayin translation of their names, according to the bill.
Government agencies will also be directed to disseminate knowledge and information about Baybayin by distributing reading materials on all levels of education and in government and private agencies and offices.
Bataoil said that these materials would raise awareness on Baybayin as the national writing system. He added that appropriate training should be conducted for the proper handling of these documents.
The NCAA together with DepEd, the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Higher Education will formulate the implementing rules and regulations of the bill.
