This past Saturday, I had an event to commemorate the Marcos Martial Law. I was tasked to create something meaningful in Baybayin. I wrote out the word Kapayapaan meaning Peace in Tagalog. The rest of the text would be from a song Kapayapaan by Philippine reggae band, Tropical Depression.

As I was writing it out on the public sidewalk, people would ask what it said. I would stop and tell them. That occurred a few times so I decided to write the meaning. As you can see its totally missed writing some of the A vowels.

It took me a while to notice it and when I did, I asked myself why did make the mistake again? It happened to me 2 weeks ago at another event.

Here’s the fixed version

I soon realized that I write Baybayin more than the Roman Alphabet. Over the last 15 years, we no longer need to write because of the comforts of technology. The only time I write (non-Baybayin) is when I have to make a quick note on a post-it. I take longer notes on an iPad, I use a word processor to write longer pieces, I email, I text, I Twitter and I Facebook. I rarely write.

Eventually, when we have Baybayin become a font standard in all devices, will this issue happened? I’m sure that other nationalities have come across the same issue where they forget how to write their script but can type it.