CADACIO, MARY ROSE P.

19- 39467

JUSTINIANE, YASMIN R. 19-30922

Foreign scholars debunk stone tablet with old Philippine script as modern-day hoax

Claim: Found at the center of the Philippines, a stone with an old script called "baybayin" engraved
in it could be a historical rock from Rizal's stone age.

Year 2000, Filipino scholars of the University of the Philippines were delighted when a
flat stone at the end of the stairs of Rizal Elementary School in Ticao Island, Masbate was found
full of baybayin after it was cleaned. The reason behind the hopes is that the baybayin is a 13th
century form of writing that even the Spanish was surprised when they saw it the time they invaded
the Philippines in the 16th century.

The now tagged "Rizal stone" could be baybayin's first artifact on stone, said the UP
anthropologists.

Anthropologists, Ethnologists, and scholars were still waiting for the final results of the
stone's carbon dating though the words were deciphered.

Dr. Arnold Azurin of UP's archaeological studies guaranteed that if found authentic, it
could bring branches of wild guesses for other parts including its origin for it could establish the
connection with the ancient writing of Sumatrans and Javanese and India's sanskrit.

However, all the hopes vanished into thin air when foreign scholars exposed its falseness.
Paul Morrow said that the writing looks too modern. Secondly, it was obviously influenced by the
Tagalog and Ilokano Doctrinas that were produced in Spanish printing presses. And lastly, it could
have been an innocent exercise of a 20th century baybayin enthusiast who lacked some basic
knowledge about the script and had no intention to deceive anybody.

Christopher Ray Miller added that it was copied from the typographic shapes. "It was a
Spanish typeface, not the handwriting of any Filipino who ever lived in the olden times".

California based baybayin teacher Christian also said that the writings on Rizal stone do
not match any old ways. He said there are missing elements such as kudlits, periods and commas.
Ninoy Aquino died a Malaysian citizen

Claim: Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr died a Malaysian citizen on August 21, 1983. He was carrying
a Filipino and Malaysian passport on that day.

Maureen Rose Meija-Villar made noise on Facebook after posting on August 19 that
Aquino died a “naturalized Malaysian citizen,” and his second passport under the name “Marcial
Bonifacio” was a legitimate Malaysian passport.

She emphasized her view with, “For me, the 'hero' is NOT the face of the man I see every
single time I get hold of a 500-peso bill! It's the WRONG face of a hero!”

The post earned at least 4,200 reactions, 168 comments, and 4,100 shares.

The fact was that Aquino was a Filipino citizen. In addition, based on several accounts of
his final days, there was no mention of a Malaysian passport.

In an article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in August 2014, Jose Ampeso detailed how
Aquino asked for his help to obtain two passports – with one bearing the name "Marcial Bonifacio”
– in 1983 while they were both in the United States. Ampeso was the Vice Consul at the Philippine
Consulate in New Orleans, while Aquino was in exile.

Ampeso also said in another interview with GMA News in August 2014 that the
procurement of the passports was “cleared” by the administration of then-President Ferdinand
Marcos.

Meanwhile, journalist Ken Kashiwahara who was with Aquino in his last flight to the
Philippines, wrote in the New York Times that Aquino traveled with his "Marcial Bonifacio"
passport, reportedly bought in the Middle East, and a blank passport provided by an old
government acquaintance.

Then, in a website dedicated to Aquino, it said it was former congressman Rashid Lucman
who provided Aquino the passport using the "Marcial Bonifacio" alias.

In former president Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s memoir of her late husband published by
the Inquirer in 2003, she said that the "Marcial Bonifacio" passport was provided by Lucman, and
the second passport which carried Ninoy's real name was supplied by one of his friends in the
United States.

In fact, in a 2010 History Channel documentary on Aquino, it can be seen he was holding
a Philippine passport under his alias during his last flight home. The voice-over described it as a
fake passport.

The contemporary naturalization law of Malaysia also requires an individual born outside
Malaysia to have resided in the country for at least 10 years to acquire citizenship.
“Jabidah” was a big hoax

Claim: Jabidah Massacre really happened under President Ferdinand Marcos, killing 24 Muslim
youths.

Jabidah Massacre is the allegedly killings on Corregidor Island on March 18, 1968 of 24
Muslim Tausugs.

It started when President Marcos had an interest to invade Sabah (Malaysia), that he
proclaimed a part of Sulu. Allegedly, Tausugs and Moros that then was being trained by Armed
Forces of the Philippines learned about Marcos' aim. They had refused to do what had been ordered
in a reason that Sabah's residents were their brothers in Muslim religion. In fear that Malaysians
would learn about it, Marcos allegedly killed the Muslim youths.

Arula was a single and only person who floated and allegedly said that he witnessed the
massacre. Take into consideration that he was handled by Montano— who was a political enemy
of Marcos.

At the court, Arula claimed that with 24 other Muslim trainees, they were ordered to line
up at the airstrip in the Corregidor, and then shot by the trainer. He claimed that he was shot in the
leg so he managed to run, roll down and hide in the bushes, and swim for hours until he was
rescued by fishermen—who brought him to Montano. Come to think that he got shot. Tiglao
concluded "How could a poor, illiterate Muslim who was shot (in the leg) on March 18 go through
a near-death trauma and five days later file a case against the military in a Cavite court? Even rich
victims of crimes take months to file a case against ordinary citizens, and longer against those in
power, such as the military."

National artist Nick Joaquin that was then a journalist, writing in the most respected
magazine at that time, the Philippine Free Press narrated based on his onterview with Ninoy "After
interviewing the self-asserted massacre survivor, Jibin Arula, doubt nagged me that there had,
indeed, been a massacre… In Jolo yesterday, I met the first batch of 24 recruits aboard RP-68.
This group was earlier reported missing – or, even worse, believed ‘massacred’ … William
Patarasa, 16 years old, one of the (Muslim recruits’ leaders) denied knowledge of any massacre.”
 Aquino also said "Some quarters have advanced the theory that the trainees were
liquidated in order to silence them. But then, 24 boys have already shown up in Jolo safe and
healthy. To release 24 men who can spill the beans and liquidate the remaining 24 ‘to seal’ their
lips would defy logic.”
REFERENCES:
Dacanay, B. (2011). Foreign scholars debunk stone tablet with old Philippine script as modern-
day hoax. Gulf News. Retrieved from https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/philippines/foreign-
scholars-debunk-stone-tablet-with-old-philippine-script-as-modern-day-hoax-1.824602

Hoax: ‘Ninoy Aquino died a Malaysian citizen’. (2018). In Rappler. Retrieved August 24, 2019,
from https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/fact-check/210137-hoax-ninoy-aquino-died-
malaysian-citizen

Tiglao, R. (2015). Jabidah was a big hoax. The Manila Times. Retrieved from https: //www. manila
times.net/jabidah-was-a-big-hoax/171247/