Ano ang Baybayin? | Need to Know

Wikipedia

Baybayin (Tagalog pronunciation: [bai̯ˈba:jɪn], ᜊᜊᜌᜒ, virama-krus-kudlit: ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔, virama-pamudpod: ᜊᜌ᜴ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜴  ; also known incorrectly as Alibata) is an old writing system that was used in the Philippines. It is an alphasyllabary belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. It was widely used in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines during the 16th and 17th centuries before being supplanted by the Latin alphabet. The characters are in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP) of Unicode, proposed to be encoded in 1998 by Michael Everson together with three other known indigenous scripts of the Philippines.^[4] In the 19th and 20th centuries, Baybayin survived and evolved into the forms of Tagbanwa script of Palawan, Hanuno'o and Buhid scripts of Mindoro, and was used to create the modern Kulitan script of the Kapampangan, and Ibalnan script of the Palaw'an tribe.

The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, one of the largest archives in the Philippines, currently possesses the world's biggest collection of ancient writings in Baybayin script.^[5][6][7][8] The chambers which house the writings are part of a tentative nomination to UNESCO World Heritage List that is still being deliberated on, along with the entire campus of the University of Santo Tomas.

In 2018, the Philippine House of Representatives approved a bill that would declare Baybayin as the national writing system of the country. House Bill 1022 or the proposed "National Writing System Act" is authored by Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil. The measure seeks to declare Baybayin as the Philippines’ national writing system, generating greater awareness on the plight of Baybayin and foster wider appreciation on its importance and beauty. The bill declares there is a need to promote, protect, preserve and conserve "Baybayin" as the National Writing System of the Philippines, using it as a tool for cultural and economic development to create a consciousness, respect and pride for the legacies of Filipino cultural history, heritage and the country's authentic identity.^[9]