BY FRANCO ANGELO B.
NICOMEDES
Countries like China, Korea, Saudi Arabia and
Thailand have their own specific way of writing
that is unique and different—something they could
call their own. With their own alphabet, their
individuality as a country and culture flourishes;
only those who speak and understand their
language can understand it. The Philippines today
has adapted the Latin script, the one used to write
this very article. But even before the Spaniards
reached the shores of Mactan, the Filipinos have
established their very own system of writing—
Baybayin.
What is Baybayin?
The Baybayin is the Filipinos’ indigenous script
consisting of 17 characters, 3 of which are vowels
and 14 of which are consonants. It is a syllabic
alphabet that dates back to 300 BC. The word
“baybayin” literally means “to spell out or syllabize.”
Its characters stand for syllables based on
consonants, as opposed to the alphabet we use
now which only corresponds to single letters
(Madarang, 2018). To indicate what vowel is paired
with the character, a kudling or a comma is used.
The kudling is put above for i/e, below for o/u,
none for a. So to spell the word “bola” or ball in
English, it would consist of two characters that
make up its syllables “bo” and “la.” We use the
character for B and put a kudling below, and no
kudling for L.
BO/BU LA
Today, Baybayin is regarded as the ancient Filipino
alphabet. Back in the Pre-Colonial period,
Kapangpangan and other non-Tagalog dialects have
a different system of writing, but the vast majority
made up of the Tagalogs and Visayan languages use
Baybayin, thus its recognition as the Filipino
alphabet. The alphabet is often confused with
Alibata which is an incorrect term from the
Spaniards and assumes that it has Arabic roots,
when in actuality, the ancient script has its root
from the Indian alphabet, Sanskrit.
In modern times, not even the slightest hint of
Baybayin is seen. When we look at the street signs,
the commercial billboards, the signs in government
buildings, they are all in Latin script. We can see
Baybayin in our paper bills, but even then, no one
even knows what it means and is mostly used for
ornamental purposes. A few tribes in the country
still use Baybayin and even then, only the elders
know how to write it. In an institutional and
national level, Baybayin is extinct. It is not used in
our documents; it is not taught in schools. This
begs the question—why don’t we use our own
alphabet anymore?
The Death of Baybayin
The Spanish colonization in 1565 was the death
sentence for the Filipino alphabet. The Filipinos
were stripped off their culture and were forced to
take on the culture of the colonizers for more than
three hundred forty years. Before the Spaniards
arrived in 1521, Filipino communities were actually
well developed and established. We had our own
form of government, literature, and language. The
Spanish priest and chronicler Pedro Chirino was
amazed by the Filipinos’ way of living because it
was not only different from theirs, but also to other
cultures in Asia. In his account Relacion de las Islas
 The 17-character ancient script of the Filipinos, Baybayin
Filipinas, Chirino states, “All these islands are much
given to reading and writing and there is hardly a
man, and much less woman, who does not read or
write in the letters used in the island of Manila –
which is entirely different from those of China,
Japan, and India. This will be seen from its
alphabets.”
When they controlled the Philippines, the
Spaniards forced the Filipinos to speak and write
their language. The colonizers associated the
Filipino language and alphabet with poverty and
illiteracy. To be considered literate and educated in
colonial Philippines, one must be fluent in Spanish.
That is why the seminal works of great Filipino
writers such as Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas
were in Spanish. This was the new culture the
Filipinos adopted. By the 18th century, Baybayin
was almost extinct. But the greatest sin the
colonizers did was to make us hate our own
culture. They imposed upon us a lens that forced
us to see our culture inferior to theirs. Even more
than 120 years after, the effects of what they did
to us can still be felt. Today, colonial mentality is so
evident. Filipinos prefer Western movies rather
than their own. We prefer K-Pop more than our
very own OPM. But as much as we can blame the
colonizers for Baybayin’s extinction, we can still do
something. Some say that it is the Filipinos’ fault
for letting our language die, and for not imposing it
as our alphabet after the Spaniards left. I
completely rebut this idea because the effect of
colonization was traumatic for the Filipinos, and we
are still struggling with how to come to terms with
it. We have internalized the inferiority of the
Filipino culture for so long, and this resulted in the
loss of our heritage. Today, colonial mentality
seems to be institutionalized as well, seeing that
instead of the imposition of Baybayin as our
alphabet, our government made English, a foreign
language, one of our national language.
 The Importance of Baybayin
Our national hero Jose Rizal laments the death of
our alphabet in his poem To My Fellow Children
saying, “This language of ours is like any other, it
once had an alphabet and its own letters that
vanished as though a tempest had set upon a boat
on a lake in a time now long gone,” (Aya Lowe
Foreign Correspondent). I believe that language is
the key to the individuality of a group. Though our
language is still very much alive, our alphabet is
extinct. And with its extinction is a loss of a part of
the Philippines’ diverse culture—a part of us died,
too. Baybayin is not just our alphabet, it was one of
the earliest art forms in our history. It provided a
window to the inner beauty of the Filipinos and
visualized the words we speak. We lost an avenue
and our liberty to express ourselves in our own
way.
I am still hopeful for our extinct alphabet. In 2018,
Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil from Pangasinan filed the
National Writing System Act, a bill that aims to use
Baybayin as the country’s national alphabet
(Pamplona, 2018). I hope for the modernization of
Baybayin I call for the recognition of Baybayin as
our alphabet, for it to be taught in schools and
used in public services because I believe that it will
spark a fire in every Filipinos’ hearts—a renewed
sense of nationalism. This might just be the cure
for the damages our culture and psyche as Filipinos
incurred during the colonial era. The Philippines is
considered the melting pot of culture in Southeast
Asia, with influences from different parts of the
world (Madarang, 2018). But from all the cultures
we have today, we can only call so little of them
our own. If Baybayin is revived, that is one more we
can add to that list.

About the Author

FRANCO ANGELO B. NICOMEDES is a Grade 12 student in International

Christian Academy, with concentration in the Humanities and Social
Sciences Strand.

This opinion is written to create more public awareness about the Baybayin.
This is to call the attention of the common people, advocates, and experts; on
Baybayin’s definition, background and importance in historical and
anthropological contexts.

References:
• Acosta, Z. (2018, October 23). “Writing a nation: Should we start using Baybayin again?” Nolisoli. Retrieved from:
https://nolisoli.ph/49937/writing-a-nation-zacosta-20181017/.
• Bayani Art (2019). “Baybayin – Ancient Writing Script of the Philippines.” BayaniArt. Retrieved from:
https://www.bayaniart.com/articles/baybayin/. Retrieved on 2 August 2019.
• Guevara, T. (2018, October 23). “Writing a nation: Should we start using Baybayin again?” Nolisoli. Retrieved from:
https://nolisoli.ph/49937/writing-a-nation-zacosta-20181017/.
• Kabuay, K. (n.d.). “Baybayin History.” Krisitian Kabuay Baybayin. Retrieved from: https://blog.baybayin.com/tutorials/baybayin-history/.
Retrieved on 2 August 2019.
• Macaraig, A. & France-Pesse, A. (2019, July 31). “Beyond ABCs: ‘Baybayin’ revival spells debate.” ABS-CBN News. Retreived from:
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/31/19/beyond-abcs-baybayin-revival-spells-debate.
• Madarang, R.C. (2018, August 20). “Learning Baybayin: Reconnecting with our Filipino roots.” Rappler. Retrieved from:
https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/arts-and-culture/210657-reconnecting-filipino-roots-baybayin. Retrieved on 2 August 2019.

• Pamplona, R. (2017, August 24). “Modernizing Baybayin.”Rappler. Retrieved from: https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/207073-baybayin-

modernization-philippine-handwriting-system.