Category Archives: Articles

Baybayin translator v.1 now available

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The online traditional Baybayin translator v.1version is now live for everyone. It’s easy to use, just enter your words and hit the TRANSLATE button. For best results, use the Firefox (free) browser. Remember this is only v.1 and there might be some bugs. (more info about the translator)

Supporting Baybayin tutorials

Contact me with any feedback or questions about this program. Salamat!


Cesar Montano wants to make a movie featuring Eskaya

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Philippine actor/director Cesar Montano is planning to make a movie about the Dagohoy Rebellion and Eskaya.

Cesar is excited about a new project that he is willing to do this year even if he wouldn’t get any support from any big film outfits.

“I’m interested to do the [movie on] Francisco Dagohoy, kasi talagang taga-Bohol ’yun. Si Francisco Dagohoy, led the longest revolt in the Philippines, his story is part of our history. Another one is Eskaya, parang alibata ’yan… Alibata [a pre-Spanish writing system] from Luzon, Eskaya from the south,” Cesar discussed.

Eskaya, which Cesar is very excited about, is actually a name of an indigenous group found in the mountainous area of Bohol. Its language Eskayan interestingly has no clear relationship with any known language.

“Many people think that early Filipinos were illiterate. They didn’t know that Filipinos could communicate, we could write, we could read already, even before, way before the Spanish came to the Philippines. We need to share this to the world. I’m thinking of doing it this year, kahit indie I will do it, the Philippines has to do it,” the determined actor said.

Source

An example of the Eskaya script

eskaya script

Baybayin interview

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Baybayin

Christine Balza of Suku-Art and I got featured in the Times-Herald.

Even those in the Philippines don’t really know much about it, said Christian Cabuay, a Walnut Creek resident who runs the Web site http://www.baybayin.com. He attended high school in the United States and college in the Philippines.

But thanks to the Internet, both Cabuay and Balza, who runs the Web site http://www.suku-art.com, said they are seeing an explosion of interest in Baybayin.

The interest is particularly sharp among Filipino-Americans like Balza and Cabuay, they said.

“We’re out here trying to find identity,” Cabuay said as immigrants and children of immigrants try to reconcile their old heritage with an American one.

The popularity is especially felt among the tattooing community, said Cabuay, who sports a few Baybayin tattoos and offers tattoo designs at http://www.PinoyTattoos.com.

Baybayin essay

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Baybayin is a writing system that was in use by the Tagalogs in the Philippines when the Spaniards colonized the area. It is a syllabic writing system, meaning that each symbol represents a syllable. The base symbol represents a syllable ending with an ‘a’ sound. Modifiers, called kudlit, could be added to the symbol to change the vowel sound from an ‘a’ to an ‘e’ or ‘i’ (when placed above) or to an ‘o’ or ‘u’ (when placed below). [Read more]

Written by Anthony