Yearly Archives: 2012

Department of Budget and Management

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Above is a screenshot of the website for Department of Budget and Management with Baybayin. Looks cool as the people on Twitter mentioned but it’s written wrong!

It’s supposed to be “Kagawaran ng Pagbabadget at Pamamahala” but actually says “kagawarana naga pagabaAbadeta ata pamamahala”

There’s even an extra A there.

With the government support of Baybayin via the pending National Script Act house bill, more government websites are incorporating the script. All is this is good but as I mentioned in a post last year, there are some concerns. One that I talk about in my lectures is that with popularity and passion without a basic understanding will lead to embarrassing errors like this.

UPDATE: I reached out to them to help with the error and as of April 28, 2012, all is good.

EVENT: Sonoma State University 4/28

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I’ll be doing Baybayin translations as part of an Asian American Community Forum on April 28, 2012 10am-3pm @ the Sonoma State University Cooperage. Drop by and let’s talk about Baybayin and our culture.

We want to personally invite you to join us for “Embracing & Celebrating Diversity: An Asian American Community Forum” on April 28, 2012, 10 am – 3 pm in the Cooperage @ Sonoma State University. FREE ADMISSION and open to the public. Please plan to attend in support of our Filipino-Asian American community!

The schedule includes:
* Opening & closing ceremony performances by Lizae Reyes accompanied by Filipino indigenous music with Alexis Canillo & Titania Buchholdt
* An intergenerational diverse panel: panel members include Jeannette Anglin, Michael Uyeno, Richard Hunt, Jenn DeLa Cruz, Carol Kawase
* Filipino author Peter Jamero is the keynote speaker
* Performance piece by Christine Jugueta accompanied by live music
* Community potluck – bring your favorite dish
* Traditional Filipino dances by Kapwa
* Cultural fashion show: models include MaryBelle B, Jay Landayan Malvar, Alexis Canillo, Trisha Hunt (to name a few)
* Group discussions – let’s talk about our cultures!
* Jam with indigenous instruments – Everyone
Come and bring your family and friends! Please distribute the attached flyer to your family & friends as well! The event is on Facebook too. Hope to see you there! Salamat po,

Karen & FANHS Board Members

Sponsored by FAASSU (Filipino American Assn. @ SSU), FANHS (Filipino American National Historical Society), FACSCI (Filipino American Community of SoCo, Inc), CfBS (Center for Babaylan Studies), Dr. Elisa Velasquez , SSU Director of Diversity, SSU Academic Senate Diversity Committee, and SSU Multicultural Center.

Looking for Baybayin food label translators

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“Looking for Baybayin food label translators, urgent!”

This is something that Philippine food manufacturers may soon be posting on job boards. It looks like that House Bill 4395 may actually pass. A press release was posted on the Philippine Congress website:

Bataoil said there is urgent need to institutionalize the protection and conservation of Baybayin script, a writing system well known and practiced in the land long before the Spaniards introduced the Latin-Roman scripts that is popularly being used today.

“I believe this piece of legislation shall serve as a starting point towards establishing our national identity and a unifying element for us Filipinos,” Bataoil said. “We owe it to our children and the generations to come to establish an identity uniquely Filipino.”

Citing the claims of foreign anthropologists and sociologists, Bataoil said Baybayin script is in danger of becoming extinct because of globalization.

“A new wave of nationalism must rise for the development of the nation. It is time that we reclaim a national heritage that is threatened by the rapidly changing time,” Bataoil said.

“While Japan has its own scripts, Kanji and Hiragana, China has the Han character, the Koreans, their Hangul, the Philippines has also its own script called Baybayin,” Bataoil said.

“We have our own writing script, uniquely Filipino that even our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal used Baybayin script in his book, Noli me Tangere, and other writings,” Bataoil said.

During the hearing, Jay Enage, founding Chairman of Baybayin Buhayin, said there is a need to legislate a law recognizing Baybayin as the national script before it disappears and be totally forgotten.

“Baybayin is being used only in some areas of Mindoro and Palawan provinces. We hope to see Baybayin script in the future in signages of restaurants, government agencies and street names together with Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Indian scriptures,” Enage said.

Under the bill, Baybayin shall also be included in the curriculum of the elementary and secondary schools.

While I do believe this is a huge step forward, there are some details that need to be talked about as I mentioned in a post last year.

1) No standardization
2) What is the government cost to roll-out?
3) How will this affect businesses in an already bleeding cash?
4) Is the script name too Tagalog-centric?
5) What about other living scripts like the Mangyan, Palawaan or Kapampangan?
6) Who will teach the teachers?
7) Who will create the educational materials?
8) Who will coordinate all of this?

Some of my questions have been answered since then and if your active in the Baybayin community, then you pretty much know who be leading #’s 6, 7 & 8.

I can already see detractors complaining on the internet….

“Nobody can ready it”
“Waste of time & money”

I’m all for the preservation of culture but I believe this has greater economic potential that will ultimately lead to the preservation of the script. There’s hardly (if any) mention about the possible economic benefits of this bill.

I don’t know much about Philippine politics but does press release assume that the bill will be passed?

BAYBAYIN PIRATED!!!!!!!

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It was bound to happened! My logo collaboration hat I did with Philippine based WIP Caps (black and white on the right) has been pirated along with another street wear brand, Capital G (middle).

While stealing from local companies sucks, in my case, there’s a little hope that maybe the Baybayin exposure will lead to an interest in the script. Yeah, I’ll admit that it’s a little flattering but at the same time I’m a little concerned if I find my personal logo on crappy shirts in a tiangge. Honestly though, I don’t think it will spark an interest. The demographic that buys cheap and knowingly pirated goods are probably not the same type of people who would want to become a Baybayin writer. They only look at the price of items rather than the value.

Manila board game

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Came across a board game that has Baybayin that was released in 2005

Barges, freight and profits are what it’s all about in Manila, a speculative contest for 3 to 5 players 10 and up. Goods shipments, intended for transport along sea routes, are in danger of gathering dust in the warehouses or being lost at sea in a storm. While the players speculate about success and failure, the ultimate fate of the ships will be determined by the dice.




Baybayin would change if I won the Mega Lotto jackpot of $600+ million

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1) Start an Academy in the Philippines dedicated to Baybayin

2) Create a foundation that teaches OSY (Out of School Youth) Baybayin so that they can create items with names for tourists

3) Expand the Mangyan Heritage Foundation expand to the Buhid script

4) Create a foundation for the Tagbanwas

5) Fund the efforts of Mike Pangalingan and Kulitan

6) Open a chain of Baybayin stores

7) Buy billboards on Edsa Guadalupe and put Baybayin

8) Produce a TV show on the topic of Baybayin

9) Sponsor UFC fighters with Baybayin on their clothing

10) 1 weekend of FREE Baybayin tattoos @ PnP Tattoo locations

11) Produce 100 different Baybayin hats with WIP

12) Buy back the Golden Tara from the Chicago Field Museum

13) Buy back the Doctrina Christiana

14) Fund a trip to India composed of Baybayin writers and linguists to study the connection between our cultures

15) Hire a film crew to finish my documentary

16) The biggest Baybayin blink you have ever or will see

17) Take Ray to the Philippines (hasn’t been there in a long time)

What would you do for Baybayin if you won the lottery?

PS: I didn’t buy a ticket so I’ll need your help in doing these things

 

Interview with Victor Quimson from Eagles Corner

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Here’s a short interview I did with Victor Quimson from Eagles Corner. He’s the man that created one of the 1st online Baybayin translators.

Christian – What is your Baybayin story? How did you 1st come across it?

Victor – I first learned about Baybayin from history class back in high school. The late Teodoro Agoncillo wrote about it in his book “History of the Filipino People” and included pictures of the symbols. I was quite amazed to learn that the early Filipinos had their own system of writing.

Christian – Your Baybayin translator has helped so many learn the script quickly and fairly accurately. What inspired you to create the tool and what were some of the challenges?

Victor – I had just taken a Perl programming class and was looking for an interesting project to work on so I can practice web programming. At around the same time, my interest in Baybayin was reborn after seeing the Baybayin pendants being created by Ray Haguisan of Malaya Designs (www.malayadesigns.net). It was a natural fit. Thanks to Hector Santos’ website, I decided to read more on how Baybayin is properly written. From there the Baybayin translator was born. I’m still amazed at how often it’s used.

It turns out that it wasn’t too difficult to do. There really weren’t any challenges. Baybayin isn’t difficult to learn, so writing the code for it was fairly easy.

Christian – Do you plan to release an updated version?

Victor – It’s been almost 10 years since I created the site, and I’ve barely touched it since. I had been toying with the idea of writing either a Facebook or iPhone app, but my time is limited nowadays.

Christian – Regarding your disclaimer, has anyone comeback advising of a messed up tattoo based on the output of your translator? I’ve come across people who9 think they could enter “Sister” and receive a translation.

Victor – I haven’t heard from anyone who had a messed up tattoo. Every now and then I come across people with tattoos with symbols that seem to have been copied from my site, and once in a while I’d find tattoos with really bad translations.

I added that disclaimer after I realized that people have been using them for tatoos. Except for a few special cases, I’m pretty confident in my translator’s accuracy in translating original Tagalog words (not words borrowed from Spanish or English), however; I can’t control what the user types in.

I still get a few requests for translations for tatoos every week, but I rarely answer them. Most of the questions I get could be easily answered by going to the “tips” page or through any other Baybayin website. My belief is that if you really want a tatoo that represents your culture, then you should take the time to learn more about it. Baybayin is so simple that one can learn it in a few hours. I’ve heard from some people that other sites charge up to $25 for translations. I’m thinking of doing the same, but I’ll send the money to one of the charities I support back home.

Christian – Does your program log any statistics? It would be interesting to see what the % breakdown would be for Original vs Spanish modified. What do you think people are using?

Victor – I don’t keep any statistics other than the number of words that have been translated. I would prefer that people would use the original version more than the modified one, of course that’s not entirely realistic.

EVENT: SF State 3-/28 – The Purpose of Baybayin

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3/28/12, I’ll be back at San Francisco State giving a lecture on Baybayin. Last year, I ran through my Baybayin School course but this year, I’ll try something different.

One of the biggest questions we need to answer as practitioners is – What is the benefit and purpose? The focus of this talk will be the benefits of Baybayin for: Self Identity, Cultural Preservation, and Promotion for Economic gain.

For all you SF State students, it all happens at 5:30PM 3/28 @ Pace office @ the Cesar Chavez center. Contact Pace for more info