A Call for A Resuscitation of an Old Love

Ever since I learned to write in Baybayin, the one’s our ancestors freely used before the Caucasian conquerors arrived, I’ve begun to love it and therefor think about it with a bit more care and attached to that connotative idea of care is the whole other concept of reinstituting it as a national form of writing.

I mean, our use of the Roman letters is not really bad and unpatriotic, it’s what we have inherited from our very good and benevolent Iberian colonizers. Our use of the Roman alphabet made communicating in our sentiments, emotions, feelings and general political unrest to the whole world a lot easier during those terrific times of the late 18^th and 19^th century. What could’ve the great Gat Jose Rizal used if not these very letters I am inscribing now on this digital paper, with the only difference being the numerous diatrical marks spread across the various accents the Spanish language and indeed even German needs and exhibits (Rizal was just marvelous in German, based on his letters with Herr Blumentritt). Yet let us look on the examples of our Asian neighbors. Yes, indeed, the Philippines is very much part of this great continent we call Asia. But I see the Philippines as a rather over extended extension of Latin America. To be frank, we are indeed the Latinos of Asia, the primary reason being of the common culture we share with our Latin American brethren on the other side of the Pacific, a culture gushing forth from the blessings our Iberian colonizers imparted to the both of us.

            Well not to digress any longer, what I am fighting for is a restoration even of just teaching the beautiful Lumang Baybayin to the youth of today. Frankly, I want it to be included in the curriculum itself. It says something about heritage, something that we Filipinos could be proud of, that we were indeed civilized peoples even before the white man came to our blessed shores. Baybayin is a long standing proof of this thriving culture.

            Yet, we do have to consider the interest of the nation on Baybayin. Perhaps many just see it as a reminder of our past, a past that is fleeting to recall yet has no real importance for today. What is the aim of bringing back from the dead this ancient style of writing? Personally, it’s a matter of pride, it’s a matter of nationalistic ideals and patriotic aspirations. Having this as another expression of our culture strengthens it further more. Our writing tells something about us, as a nation, as a people. It’s good to have something distinctly our own and not something borrowed and later utilized for a conforming benefit. I only want to see a Philippine nation proud of what is and the identity it possesses.

            Let us resuscitate back to life this old Love of a people constantly searching for its true and authentic identity.