Restore, Explore, and Adore: A piece of History Inscribed on Public Signages

By Mark Lionel Alvez, Sean Balatbat, Rodolfo V Marzo, Sherlott Riann Barnachea,
Chriszandra Calma, and Anjhela Mercado

“A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” (Gandhi,
n.d). Culture is part of people's everyday life; it is what makes every country unique, as
well as, shared beliefs and values of a particular group of individuals such as religions,
languages, and traditions. Recently, there is a debate between lawmakers,
professionals and, the public about the revival of ancient script baybayin on public
signages (Villa, 2018). Alibata, baybayin is an endemic system used by the Tagalogs to
inscribe their spoken speech when the first conquistadores and missionaries arrived in
the Philippines, the precise definition of it is to spell out or syllabicate (Versoza, 1939 as
cited in Cabuay, 2012). Iya (2014) asserted that the demonstration of the unity of the
locals to their ancient culture and heritage as baybayin became voguish, as it is used in
the revolutionary flag of the Katipuneros. The imposition of baybayin on public signages
must be authorized since it enables Filipinos to have its authentic identity, it could be an
instrument for cultural and economic welfare, and preserve the culture of early Filipinos.
Notwithstanding the fact that these baybayin characters on signages offer a lot of
benefits, discussing the opposite side of the situations is also necessary. First, majority
of the Filipinos do not know how to read Baybayin. De Chavez, a professor at the
Department of Linguistics of the University of the Philippines-Diliman said that most of
the signages contain English words so it seems like baybayin is a “secret language” that
only those people who have knowledge about it would understand (Tiangco, 2020).
Next, there are numerous writing systems that were used in the past civilization. Casal
(2018) indicates that baybayin does not include all the Philippines scripts that were used
before the Spaniard colonization. Last, the approval of pre-Hispanic scripts on
signboards would just cost a lot of money. Once the law about making baybayin as the
national writing system is mandated, baybayin on signages, public facilities, buildings
and, establishments will be required. As a result, agencies of the government will have
to spend money on redesigning and renovation of information materials from the
structurals to offices as indicated in an article by Madarang (2018).

Regardless of the reasons why baybayin in public signages should not be

supported, people should also hear one of many reasons why it should be implemented,
which is it allows Filipinos to have their own identity. According to Ariani (2017),
elements of culture may be identified and every component is assigned of a role in
giving a strong identity to the state or tribe related. The author further explained that the
heritage and artworks of one of the tribes in Indonesia serve as their identity. Since
baybayin is classified as cultural heritage of the Philippines, it somehow connects to
how does a culture allows country to have their original identity. Second, in an article of
Agance France-Presse (AFP, 2019), Taipan Lucero, a Filipino artist who desires to
revive baybayin stated that neglecting baybayin is like discarding part of oneself seeing
that it is part of local culture and serves as identity of every Filipino. In the same article,
Kristian Kabuay, a Filipino-American artist said that culture is the heart and soul of
every country but the issue is people do not treasure it due to colonial mentality. Lastly,
the history of one's country and cultural practices, moral values, beliefs, and ideals
gives identity to the citizens of a certain nation (Liu & Turner, 2018). In addition, the
study of Guillermo et. al, (2017) mentioned that baybayin is an evidence of the
significance of pre-colonial civilization and the image of ethnic identity.

The revival of baybayin could serve as an instrument for cultural and economic
development. The National Writing System Act of 2014 section 2 stipulated that the
nation should pay more attention on how to preserve and advocate arts, letters, and
culture of the country considering that it may help for sustainable development (De Los
Santos, 2015). Furthermore, baybayin on public signages will be a form of appreciation
or identification for the cultural legacy of the Philippines. Grazuleviciute-Vileniske (2006)
concluded that a sense of awareness to cultural heritage of a certain state has proven
to be effective as a tool for sustainable economic growth. The author also added that
recognition of one’s national culture is a must to attain economic development.
Similarly, the article of Baycan and Girard (2011) identified that cultural heritage has a
significant role when it comes to the betterment of the economy.

The use of Baybayin on public signages promotes the preservation of the

authentic pre-Hispanic culture of the Philippines. A study by Coppin State University et.
al, (2012) states that "Cultural heritage preservation" bounds not only the tangible
aspect but involves the intangible aspect of the society as well. In the same way, Hani
et al. (2012) mentioned that upholding the cultural heritage gives benefits to the
economic advantage and other value and not only the community’s specification.
Therefore, Leopoldo Bataoil supported the implementation as he asserted that the script
is a way for sustaining culture (Roxas, 2018). He said that "The importance of writing in
general and of the alphabet in particular for the preservation and progress of civilization
is incalculable," (Roxas, 2018). Moreover, Potts and Cunningham (2012) pointed out
creative industries as vital, opposed to be an unchanging economic value as culture
with society benefit from these industries, and accord to the process of economic
spread and progression.

To summarize, including baybayin on public signages should be considered

since it grants national identification to Filipinos, it serves as a medium to achieve
cultural and economic stability, and protect the cultural legacy of the ancient Filipinos.
The proposal about culture revival movement has presented its multiple advantages.
First, it gives Filipinos a sense of national identity without the influence of the countries
that colonized the Philippines. Second, it plays a vital role in cultural and economic
progress since it also spread awareness to the public and affects economic outcomes.
Third, revitalization of baybayin in a form of introducing it to public signages saves the
historical and cultural heritage of the Filipinos as it allows young generation to be
familiar with the ancient script. With all the provided evidence that has been mentioned,
it manifests that baybayin on public displays must be approved due to its valuable
reasons. Nevertheless, government organizations should make a concrete plan to bring
baybayin to the education system for Filipinos to be enlightened and understand the
said script. Advocacy groups like Baybayin, Buhayin may host events for a cause, and
artists who also want to help may exhibit their baybayin art calligraphy and start
demonstrating how to write it. In this way, the expenses would be lessened and at the
same time, it may also encourage people to learn baybayin.
 4
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