Wealth of Pre-Colonial Philippines

I like what's going on now, Filipinos both overseas and in the Philippines are gaining more consciousness of the pre-colonial Filipino writing system called alibata or baybayin. It was the script our ancestors used when communicating with one another, and it is the same writing script found in the Manunggul Jar featured behind the Php1000 bill.

To successfully navigate our future, we have to know our past. In our case, much of the unearthing is still to be done. I first learned about alibata when I was in college. Our Kasaysayan 1 professor, taught us our native alphabet and required us to come up with term papers using the script! I remember I would use it for writing hidden codes way back in the mid-90s. Only those who attended the same class knew how to read it.

I learned recently through a talk given by marine biologist and anthropologist Dr. Bonifacio Comandante, that unlike other colonized countries, we were a bit better in the light that the spoken language remained. The baybayin syllabary was replaced with the normal ABC-alphabet but it's easy to go back learning it because we still speak it. The Filipino, not Pilipino for that would pertain to us people, was the same language they used hundreds of years ago. Proof to this is the fact that over a single syllable, we can already hold a simple conversation?

"Bababa ba?"
"Bababa!"

Plus the word baba can mean any of the following:

1. chin
2. go down
3. part of a shell
4. carry on one's shoulders

Can you think up of any one-syllable English word like that?

I've been relearning writing in baybayin. I would like the kids to be familiar with it.

A

Ba

Ka

Da/Ra

E/I

Ga

Ha

La

Ma

Na

Nga

O/U

Pa

Sa

Ta

Wa

Ya