TILAMSIK NG LIWANAG: ANG BAYBAYIN
Privilege Speech
HON. LEOPOLDO N. BATAOIL
June 6, 2011

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen, a blessed afternoon to all of you.

I rise today on a personal and collective privilege. Mr. Speaker, June 19, 2011 marks the year-long celebration of Dr. Jose Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary. This year’s celebration, organized by the national historical commission, has the theme “RIZAL: HALIGI NG BAYAN,” and will feature the life and works of the Philippine national hero.

In his book DOUBLE LIVES, author DAVID HEENAN said:

JOSE RIZAL, a contemporary of GANDHI and SUN YAT-SEN, is recognized as the greatest Filipino who ever lived. Having traveled extensively in Europe, America, and Asia, Rizal MASTERED 22 LANGUAGES, including Spanish, English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, and various local dialects.

Mr. Speaker, “THE GOAL OF THIS CELEBRATION IS TO PROMOTE THE PHILIPPINE HERITAGE AND TO PROTECT IT.”

According to REGALADO TROTA JOSÉ, the new head of National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) Subcommission on Cultural Heritage, and archivist of the University of Santo Tomas Archives, heritage has two aspects: THE TANGIBLE HERITAGE, which are the buildings, the costumes, the artifacts; and THE INTANGIBLE HERITAGE — the dances, the languages and the gestures.

Mr. Speaker, isang karanasan ang nagbukas sa aking kamalayan na tayo pala ay may sariling Salitang Panulat bago pa man dumating ang mga banyagang mananakop. Nakausap ko ang isang kaibigan na galing sa Amerika at naibahagi niya sa akin na nagturo siya roon ng Baybayin sa paanyaya ng isang Pilipinong bihasa sa Filipino Martial Arts. Ang mga tinuruan niya roon ng Baybayin ay mga Amerikano. Dito nagsimula ang aking kaalaman patungkol sa Baybayin, na sa pagkakaalam ko at ng karamihan sa atin ito ay tinatawag na Alibata. Sa aming pag-uusap, Nakita at nadama ko sa kanya ang kakaibang pagmamahal at pagpapahalaga niya sa ating sariling salitang panulat. Ito ay tila isang tilamsik ng liwanag sa akin. Kaya naman, ako ay nahamon sa kanyang marubdob na pagnanais na buhayin ang napabayaan nating salitang panulat – ang Baybayin.

WHAT IS BAYBAYIN?

BAYBAYIN is the ancient syllabary script of the early Filipinos, which means “TO SPELL.” Spanish priest PEDRO CHIRINO in 1604 and ANTONIO DE MORGA 1609 wrote about Baybayin as being widely known by the country’s population. This supports the claim of Prof. F. LANDA JOCANO that Filipino ancestors have already established life ways prior to the coming of Western colonization.

JOSE RIZAL, our national hero himself was a skillful writer of the ancient syllabic Pilipino script called BAYBAYIN. He has written manuscripts in Tagalog that contain BAYBAYIN. He also used the BAYBAYIN script in his book, NOLI ME TANGERE, while portions of EL FILIBUSTERISMO was written in pieces of Bamboo called bumbong by Rizal himself in Baybayin now contained in Le Museé du Quia Branly, Paris, France.

He proudly declared in “SUCESOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS” circa 1609 that the “Philippines had an established barangay government system, a flourishing interisland and regional barter trade and a writing system well known and practiced in the land, contrary to the vulgar name ‘Indios’ that the Spanish friars and conquestadors had called our people then”.

Before the Spanish conquest, the Filipino men and women were known for their advanced knowledge and skill in our indigenous written language, the “BAYBAYIN”. It was a sophisticated written language that was used to conduct commerce and trade with Malaysia, Indonesia, and even in the in Middle Eastern countries. Our ancestors were proud of their race, have a cultural and national identity that were at par with other advanced countries.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, even DON PEDRO PATERNO and DON TRINIDAD PARDO DE TAVERA wrote two (2) volumes of dictionary (circa 1884-1887) now found at the National Library detailing the script, strokes and pervasive use of Baybayin in the Philippines prior to the introduction of the Latin-Roman scripts that we are using popularly today. The Baybayin scripts were culled from our giant shells, the Taklobo, in which our forefathers gathered giant pearls, that is the very reason why we were called the “PEARL OF THE ORIENT”.

IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE & NEED TO PROMOTE BAYBAYIN

According to GRAEME SHANKLAND a leading British architect:

“A country without a past has the emptiness of a barren continent;

and a city without old buildings is like a man without a memory.”

“Ang isang bansang walang kasaysayan ay tulad ng tigang na sanlupain…

at isang nilalang na walang kamalayan.”

Mr. Speaker, ang wika ay may dalawang aspeto: ang WIKANG PASALITA at WIKANG PANULAT. Sa kasalukuyan mayroon lamang tayong wikang Pasalita samantalang ang ating Wikang Panulat ay halos naibaon na sa limot at itinuturing na “ENDANGERED ALPHABET”.

In one of Jose Rizal’s writings, “TO MY FELLOW CHILDREN” (1869) he said:

“This language of ours is like the rest, it once had a syllabic form and its own letters that vanished as though whirlwind had set upon a boat on a lake a long gone”.

Mr. Speaker, sa isang panayam kay TIM BROOK, isang manunulat at direktor ng “Writing Program” sa Shanghai College, patungkol sa “ENDANGERED ALPHABET PROJECTS”, ito ang kanyang sinabi (translated into Filipino):

“Ang pag-aaral at pagsusuring ito na ginanap sa Pilipinas ay naglalahad na matibay ang ebidensya na ang panulat na ito ay masasabing naglaho na dahil sa hindi na ito ginagamit. Ito ang tinatawag na Baybayin. Ito ang ginamit na panulat ng mga katutubo bago pa man dumating sa Pilipinas ang mga Kastila. Normal lamang na ipatupad ng mga mananakop ang pag-aaral, pagsasalita at pagsulat ng dala nilang alpabeto kung kaya’t ito ang naging dahilan kung bakit unti-unting nawala ang paggamit ng Baybayin.

Sa mga sumunod na mahigit sa dalawandaang taon pa ay naglaho ang Baybayin. Pumalit dito ang Alpabetong Latino. Sa ngayon, ang mga kabataan sa Aparri ay nakikiuso sa paglalagay ng mga tattoo na nasusulat sa Baybayin. At doon makakukuha ka ng mga T-shirts na may mga disenyong Baybayin. May mga biro pa roon na wala raw ni isang nakaaalam doon kung ano ang letrang nakatatak sa T-shirts at kung paano ito bibigkasin. Mga larawan lamang daw ito. Ito’y isang pambihirang pagkakataon na makikita ang kahalagahan at kaugnayan ng panulat sa kahulugan nito. Nakalulungkot isipin na ang naiwan na lamang ay ang mga disenyo ng panulat.

At isa pang bagay , ako’y nalungkot sapagkat ang kakaibang panulat na ito ay unti-unti nang naglaho. Sa tuwi-tuwina sa aking pagmamasid, ang panulat na ito ay hindi na ginagamit o itinuturo sa mga paaralan o ginagamit man lamang sa mga panulat sa pamahalaan sapagkat ang ginagamit na ngayon ay ang Alpabetong Arabo o ang tinatawag na Alpabetong Latino. Ang ating alam at ang ginagamit nating Alpabeto- kakaiba, maganda at natatanging panulat na ito sa buong mundo ay unti-unti nang naglaho. Gumawa ako ng mga pagsusuri na magpapatotoo nito”.

Ironically, Mr. Speaker, foreigners lately have become interested in teaching our Baybayin script abroad with Filipino crowd. If they are passionately interested with Baybayin, how much more should we, as Filipinos, revive or restore our endangered national treasure, the Baybayin script?

Japan has its own scripts, Kanji and Hiragana; China has the Han character. The Koreans, their Hangul. Almost all Asian nations have their own writing system. They use it in their street signs, food labels, books, et cetera. In simple terms, their written language is being used in their daily affairs. The Philippines, being an Asian country, has its own script too, the Baybayin, but it’s been long forgotten.

Gaya nga nang sinabi ni DR. JOSE RIZAL:

Ang salita nati’y tulad din sa iba na may alfabeto at sariling letra,

na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa. Ang lunday sa lawa noongdakong ununa.”

Mr. Speaker, because of the aforementioned reasons, SA AKING MGA KABATA, (1869) DR. JOSE RIZAL

In line with this, I filed House Bill No. 4395 entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF BAYBAYIN, AND DECLARING BAYBAYIN AS THE NATIONAL SCRIPT OF THE PHILIPPINES.

The importance of writing in general and of the alphabet in particular for the preservation and progress of civilization is incalculable.

As University of Chicago scholar I. J. GELB has declared:

“WRITING IS SO IMPORTANT IN OUR DAILY LIFE THAT I SHOULD BE WILLING TO SAY THAT OUR CIVILIZATION COULD EXIST MORE EASILY WITHOUT MONEY, METALS, RADIOS, STEAM ENGINES, OR ELECTRICITY THAN WITHOUT WRITING.”

Before the invention of writing, the preservation of history, literature, and tradition was dependent upon fallible oral transmission and faulty human memory. It is no wonder that the seven ancient peoples (SUMERIANS, EGYPTIANS, ELAMITES, INDIANS, CRETANS, HITTITES, and CHINESE) who devised the earliest forms of true writing considered the art of writing to be a gift or invention of God or the gods.

(GEORGE THOMPSON & JERRY COMBEE, World History and Culture in Christian Perspective (2nd Edition) – A Beka Book)

Mr. Speaker, because of the aforementioned reasons, House Bill No. 4395 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF BAYBAYIN, AND DECLARING BAYBAYIN AS THE NATIONAL SCRIPT OF THE PHILIPPINES, envisions to protect and preserve Baybayin as part of our cultural heritage and treasures which will serve as our national identity and tool for unification as a people.

Also, it will help inculcate patriotism among our citizenry especially among our youth if Baybayin will become our National Script and will be included in our Basic Education Curriculum.

“EDUCATION IS THE PROCESS OF TRANSMITTING THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF A PEOPLE FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT. People of all cultures educate their children informally in the home and the community, and many cultures also educate children formally in a classroom setting, where they are taught literacy (reading and writing), mathematics, and other formal subjects. The Sumerians were the first to develop a system of formal schooling.

LANGUAGE AND WRITING THROUGH THE AGES by GEORGE THOMPSON & JERRY COMBEE, World History and Culture in Christian Perspective (2nd Edition) – A Beka Book

Mr. Speaker, A new wave of nationalism must rise for the development of our nation. It is time that we reclaim a national heritage that is threatened by globalization, and the rapidly changing times. It is time that we establish our national identity. The declaration of Baybayin as our national script would be a unifying element for us Filipinos. We owe it to our children and the generations to come to establish an identity uniquely Filipino.

So, Mr. Speaker, I urge this Congress to expedite the passage of House Bill No. 4395,

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF BAYBAYIN, AND DECLARING BAYBAYIN AS THE NATIONAL SCRIPT OF THE PHILIPPINES and declare Baybayin as the National Script of the Philippines.

Related to this, I strongly request the government agencies concerned to immediately issue the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 10066, the 2010 Heritage Law. Section 38 & 39 of the said law It specifically states:

SECTION 38. INCORPORATION OF NATIONAL CULTURAL TREASURES AND IMPORTANT CULTURAL PROPERTY IN THE BASIC EDUCATION SYSTEM. – Within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Education in coordination with the Commission’s Philippine Cultural Education Program shall formulate the cultural heritage education programs both for local and overseas Filipinos to be incorporated into the formal, alternative and informal education, with emphasis on the protection, conservation and preservation of cultural heritage property; and

SECTION 39. CULTURAL HERITAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM. – Within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Commission on higher Education in consultation with the Commission shall set forth in its teaching programs nationwide the following cultural heritage education programs with emphasis at the provincial, city and municipal levels:

(a) Protection, conservation and preservation of cultural heritage properties;

(b) Instructional materials in prints, film and broadcast media on the cultural and historical significance of cultural properties; and

Mr. Speaker, To borrow the words of DR. JOSE RIZAL:

“If (this) succeeds to awaken your consciousness of our past, already effaced from

your memory…then I have not worked in vain, and with this as a basis,

however small it may be, we shall be able to study the future.”

Bilang pagtatapos, Mr. Speaker,

Ating Isigaw na!

Ating Isabuhay na!

Ating Isagawa na!

BAYBAYIN BUHAYIN!

Maraming Salamat po!