Why Baybayin?

After teaching and advocating our native scripts for the past four years, I'm occasionally asked that question, especially by skeptics who doubt Baybayin’s utility. I never take it personally and see the query as a chance to explain. And there are various ways of doing so.

(In this context, Baybayin refers to all Philippine native scripts, which are similar in form.)

1. It keeps the mind nimble to learn a new language, whether it's spoken or written. (When one mentions "language," it's often in the context of spoken language, not written. Buwan ng Wika rarely includes Philippine native scripts.)

2. It's a fresh take on "heritage conservation," or in this case heritage revival. Heritage often refers to built structures like ancestral homes, which should be preserved and celebrated. But our native writing systems are much older than any existing ancestral house. Simply put, native scripts were used by our ancestors, replaced by the colonizers' writing system, and then forgotten. But today, it's an accessible ancient medium for us modern folks to convey feelings and ideas. Writing in the ancestral script is a primal connection to a deep past, to people long dead with your DNA who expressed themselves in this way. If you want to be lyrical about it, it's soulful.

Howie giving a Baybayin workshop in Silay, Negros Occidental earlier this year. He’s holding a blown-up page in the Philippine passport that contains a proverb written in Baybayin.

3. It makes me literate in a native script that is already widely seen but rarely read. Baybayin is on Philippine money, passports, government logos, brand designs, book covers, billboards, street signs, public murals, TV shows, and of course on very many tattoos. With the way it's entering the mainstream, being able to read Baybayin in all its myriad appearances is an empowering feeling. It's trendy without being shallow. (And for those aspiring to a design career, there is increasing demand for products incorporating Baybayin writing.)

4. Rizal and other first Filipinos learned and valued it, and saw reviving and using Baybayin as enriching our culture, and establishing an identity evolved from our colonized selves. It symbolized to them the liberation of the mind. Learning Baybayin binds us to the vision of the nation they imagined.

5. It's not hard. Unlike other Asian scripts, Baybayin can be learned in a weekend, its rules few and elegantly simple. With motivation, you can teach yourself. Tutorials online and Baybayin keyboard apps make the learning even easier.

Howie presenting to a group of teachers. He’s showing a page in his notebook written completely in Baybayin. 

6. It's beautiful. Baybayin is full of curves and waves, its forms inspired by imagery from nature. Artists have long seen its potential for design and calligraphy.

7. It makes others happy. When others ask me to write their names or the names of their loved ones in Baybayin, the joy I see makes every effort to learn and share it worthwhile.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News