“THE PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

OF SAMUEL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ON THE USE OF

BAYBAYIN AS AN OFFICIAL MEDIUM OF

INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS”

ALUINE MARRIONE CASTANEDA

CLEMENTINE LOVE DE LEON

WALTER PALABINO

A social research manuscript submitted to the faculty of the Department of Senior High School,

Samuel Christian College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Applied Track Subject:

Practical Research 1, Humanities and Social Sciences. March 2020. Research Instructor: Mr.

Johnzen Hugo.
 Chapter I

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Long before the Spanish colonization, the Philippines already had their own writing system.

Baybayin, incorrectly known as “Alibata”, is an ancient pre-colonial script used primarily by the

Tagalog people. The word Baybayin came from the root word “baybay” which literally means to

spell, and was one of the numerous Suyat scripts which Filipino ancestors once utilized in their

daily lives as a form of communication. It was well-respected by explorers who came to their

islands, which was why Spanish missionaries had to learn it first in order to spread Catholicism,

before finally forcing the Roman alphabet unto the locals. Despite the retained use of Baybayin by

the Tagalogs for legal proceedings, land deeds, petitions and the like under the Spanish regime, it

failed to survive through the modern times after the use of the Western Alphabet was imposed by

the colonizers.

But thanks to millennials Baybayin is finally making a comeback. It all started back in 2015

after the launch of the mobile app “Baybayin”, wherein iOS users where given the option to switch

their international keyboard into Baybayin. It was more popularized when the local government of

Boracay mandated its use for signages to counter the burgeon of Chinese characters in street signs

for tourists in Boracay. It was even more strengthened after Representative Leopoldo Bataoil from

Pangasinan filed House Bill 1022, also known as the proposed “National Writing System Act”,

which seeks 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

consciousness, respect and pride for the legacies of the Filipino cultural history, heritage and the

country’s authentic identity.” The proposed bill immediately gained the support of the Department

of Education, the National Commission of Culture and Arts, and the advocacy group “Baybayin,

Buhayin”.
 However, should it pass into law, many changes will need to be made. Many netizens also

disapprove of the idea since Baybayin has already been dead for hundreds of years, and only few

Filipinos know how to write and read it. From that, the conclusion that what exactly is hindering its

wider acceptance is the lack of knowledge of people can be drawn. Therefore, a call for a

nationwide imposition of the writing system to the educational curriculum might be present. So, is

teaching Baybayin in schools considered a necessity?

STATEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE

This study aims to know how teachers and students perceive the proposition of using Baybayin as

an official medium of instruction in school.

Objectives:

 Socio-demographic profile

Students Teachers

a.) Age a.) Graduated Course

b.) Grade Level b.) Specialization

c.) Sex c.) Grade Level Handling

d.) Section d.) Years of Teaching

e.) Strand (for SHS)

 To identify the possible effects of the introduction of an unprecedented writing

system on the academic performance of the students and teachers

 To know if students and teachers are open to the idea of changing the country’s

writing system

 To identify the factors affecting the approval or disapproval of each respondent to

the proposition of Baybayin as a National Writing system

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The researchers intend to focus their study on junior high school students, senior high school

students, and teachers of Samuel Christian College. There will be a total of (5) students selected

from junior high students, (5) senior high students and (5) teachers from Samuel Christian College.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will open an opportunity for the history of Baybayin to once again be revisited, giving a

chance for Filipinos to learn more about the revitalized writing system that might eventually

become the national writing system if passed into law. Alongside with learning, the revival of the

said writing script will also be a gain in the culture rate as well as the sense of national identity in

the Philippines. The main beneficiaries of the study would be:

 Students who might potentially have to learn Baybayin once the National Writing System

Act is indeed turned into a law.

 Instructors who might potentially have to teach Baybayin once the National Writing System

Act is indeed turned into a law.

 Filipinos, in general, who wil be affected by the changes brought upon by the nationwide

implementation of the bill.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Baybayin - An ancient pre-colonial script used primarily by the Tagalog people. The word

Baybayin came from the root word “baybay” which literally means to spell.

Bearing - A relation or connection.

Burgeon – To grow or develop quickly. To become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number.

Imposition - The act of establishing or creating something in an official way: the act of imposing

something.

Unprecedented – Not done or experienced before.

 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

THE BAYBAYIN BILL

As reported by ABS-CBN News (2018), a bill seeking to declare Baybayin, a pre-Hispanic writing

system, as the country's national writing system has been approved by the House Commitee on

Basic Education and Culture. If passed into a law, the bill shall require the use of Baybayin on:

containers and label of products manufactured in the Philippines, street signs and public buildings,

as well as local newspapers and magazines. Government agencies including the Department of

Education and the Commission on Higher Education will also be directed to disseminate knowledge

of the Baybayin script in all levels of education, public and private (para. 1).

House Bill 1022, as authored by Pangasinan Representative Leopoldo Bataoil, seeks to require

Baybayin translations in the following: signage for streets, public facilities, buildings, hospitals, fire

and police stations, community centers and government halls, labels of locally-produced food

products and mastheads of newspapers and other print publications (Villa, 2018, para. 3-5)

According to Pantig (2019), “The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture approved a

bill intended at restoring and establishing Baybayin as the national writing system of the country, an

ancient traditional script of the indigenous people of the pre-Spanish period. House Bill 1022 or the

"National Writing System Act" proposed by Pangasinan 2nd District Representative Leopoldo N.

Bataoil sought to enhance, sustain and protect Baybayin, which has earned immediate support from

the Department of Education (DepEd), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
and the Baybayin, Buhayin advocacy group. Baybayin will also reflect national identity by allowing

local government units (LGUs) to include the accurate Baybayin script in their signage for street

names, public facilities, public buildings and other relevant signage for other public service

institutions such as hospitals, fire and police stations, community centers and government halls

(para. 1-2,4)

Rosero (2018) explained that the bill aims to “generate awareness on the plight of ‘Baybayin’ and

foster wide appreciation on its importance and beauty.” Baybayin, according to the bill, refers to

“all existing and discovered ancient and traditional scripts of the Philippine indigenous peoples.”

(para. 4). He concluded that rather than superficially promoting Baybayin for aesthetic purposes,

the bill should focus more on the revitalization of the increasingly endangered writing traditions of

the indigenous peoples. Indigenous scripts, first and foremost, must serve the communities that use

and promote them (para. 13).

According to De Los Santos (2014), “the Baybayin bill has been presented every year since 2011

and has yet to pass into law (even as this paper is being written). At this same time, earlier in

February 3, 2014, Baybayin Buhayin Inc.'s CEO Pastor Jay Enage, privately approached several

Baybayin scholars and artists (myself included) and invited them/us to share our input, opinions,

and revisions (if any) for the Bill before they once again put it on the table for reconsideration. And

after consulting with our colleagues and peers, this first draft of amendments and edits was quickly

put into consideration" (p. 55 ).

Madarang (2018) stated that "once the Baybayin law is enacted, it is also expected to pose logistical

challenges that will need funding. Government agencies will have to reprint, redesign and

reconstruct communications materials from architectural structures to office stationery" (para. 11).

Manila Times (2018) reported that the bill will require food manufactures to integrate Baybayin
translations into their product labels, LGUs will include Baybayin names in signages and street

name, and also incorporate Baybayin into newspapers and magazines to provide translations of their

names on their mastheads (para 13).

Miele (2017) said, "I'm not saying that it should be taught. What I am saying is that it should maube

an option or taught as part as part of a broader history curriculum" (para 10).

PERCEPTIONS

It is way overboard to establish a prehistoric script as a country's national writing system. As stated

in the article "The Philippines Wants to Go Back to a Prehistoric Writing System" (2018):

a country needs a writing system that everyone can understand. The Philippines has this advantage

over its neighbors since its current writing system is based on the Latin script, making it compatible

with Western nations. Learning to write the alphabet in the various Philippine languages requires

more or less the same as learning to write in English. Changing signages and product labels both

come with costs. And, of course, teaching a writing system completely alien to children, their

parents, and their teachers is not going to be cheap. This will require a tremendous amount of

money, time and effort. The Philippine Congress is not really known for introducing good reforms

to Philippine basic education. With this new bill, it once again shows how out of touch

representatives are. There are obviously much more important issues lawmakers must address yet

they choose to return the country's educational system to prehistoric times (para. 5).

According to Acosta (2018), “ The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture approved a

proposal to make the Baybayin a national writing system for the country. This means Baybayin

translations will be required for: street signs; names of public facilities such as buildings, hospitals,

fire and police stations, government halls, etc.; food product labels; and print mastheads once the

proposal is enacted. Responses to this were mixed. Most agreed, but many remained wary. Because
of this, it is only fitting to take a step back and analyze Baybayin. “It is believed that replacement of

the Baybayin by the Roman alphabet must have obliterated a significant aspect of indigenous

Philippine literature,” says Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago of the University of the Philippines

Diliman in her article “Early Philippine Literature” on the NCCA website. Some of the bill's loudest

objections are that it's just going to be an aesthetic change; it should be taught first in schools before

it's used as a national writing system; and what we need is to educate children more about the

Filipino language. Another is that it is too late for us to have our own national system of writing,

Baybayin's conversion into our writing system has significant implications for the Filipino culture.

Philosopher Martin Heidegger once said, “Language is the house of being,” (as cited in Martin

Heidegger, 1947, PARA #1), That means the way we experience this world is through the language

that we use. Even though our language and culture seem to have moved on from Baybayin, it is not

too late to bring it back. We're still a relatively young country, after all” (para. 1, 5, 7, 9, 11).

Villa (2018) wrote in an article that there was a consensus on one point among the varying opinions

of Filipinos which were expressed on Facebook and Twitter: Baybayin should first be introduced

into the education system by the government before requiring its widespread use. The educators'

lack of necessary knowledge of the language which could contribute to the difficulty of teaching it

was also pointed out by netizens. The fact that teachers were not consulted about the proposal was

also lamented by some (para. 4-7).

Furthermore, dismay was also shown by commenters at the fact that instead of addressing more

urgent concerns such as the recently implemented K-12 schooling system, lawmakers are looking at

things like this. The move being a waste of time and money, as well as the suggestion that the

ancient language was obsolete, were also pointed out (para. 11-12).

The functional vitality of Baybayin is another issue that must be considered in the discussion of

implementing it as a national writing system. According to Rosero (2018): at present, Tagalog

Baybayin has no widespread contemporary use. Unlike East Asian languages such as Korean,

Japanese, and Chinese, Baybayin is no longer utilized by the community of speakers to which it is

associated. It merely serves as an ornamental font type used by various government and non-

government organizations or as logos for commercial enterprises. In the digital domain, young

Filipinos memorialize it through fonts, tattoos and other “paraphernalia of interest.” In schools,

children do not actually learn it. The bill does not specify how the Baybayin should be integrated in

the elementary and secondary curricula. The bill must also determine how Baybayin and other

indigenous scripts can be integrated in the existing programs of the Department of Education, such

Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd) and the Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education

(MTBMLE) programs (para. 8-9).

Marikit (2018) said, "The government should introduce it in subtle ways at first, like on signs and

labels alongside its romanized counterparts for translation. It should also be introduced in classes as

early as kindergarten, while children are still learning how to read and write so that the next

generation could pick it up easily. Exposing people to it on a daily a basis would eventually stir up

interest in the minds of the public, and over time people would be willing to learn it" (para. 2).

Bataoil said one of the aims of his bill is to promote patriotism. But will using surviving ethnic

alphabets and scripts that are read and written in different direction really make more patriots in us?

("Buy or bye for Baybayin?", 2019, para. 5).

HISTORY

According to an article written by Madarang (2018), Baybayin was used by Spanish friars to

introduce Catholicism to Filipinos. It is believed to have come from ancient Indian scripts the same

as the Tagbanua in Palawan and the Hanunoo-Mangyan in Mindoro, like the other writing systems

in the Philippines. The use of Baybayin gradually grew faint after the Spaniards eventually taught
the Spanish language and the Latin alphabet (as cited in Pedrigal, 2019, p. 17).

According to Pedrigal (2019), "Learning and understanding the history of Baybayin, is an important

part of learning Baybayin itself. Knowing that there are still existing forms of baybayin today is

proof that the style of writing can still be used in modern times. However, the Philippines is very

regionalistic, and so there are different forms of Baybayin, such as

the Tagbanua and the Hanunoo-Mangyan. Because of this, it will be one disadvantage

of using Baybayin as a national form of writing, as uniting the regional forms of Baybayin will be a

daunting task for the country" (p. 17).

Madarang (2018) stated that "once the Baybayin law is enacted, it is also expected to pose logistical

challenges that will need funding. Government agencies will have to reprint, redesign and

reconstruct communications materials from architectural structures to office stationery" (para. 11).

SYNTHESIS

As elucidated in the related studies, Baybayin is a writing system that dates back to precolonial

times which eventually faded into history after the introduction of the Spanish language and Latin

alphabet. It was then resuscitated after bills proposing its revitalization were passed in the Senate,

with the latest being the one authored by Rep. Leonardo Bataoil. The House Bill 1022 or the

“National Writing System Act”, has the main intention of restoring and establishing Baybayin as

the national writing system of the country. If passed into a law, the bill shall require the use of

Baybayin on: labels of food products manufactured in the Philippines, road signs and public

buildings, and local newspapers and magazines. Government agencies such as the Department of

Education and the Higher Education Commission will also have the responsibility of distributing
 knowledge of the Baybayin script at all levels of education, both public and private. Despite the bill

being presented with nothing but good intentions to revive a cultural gem in the country's history

and a part of national identity, it still continues to face controversy with the different takes of

citizens on its implementation such as: how it would affect the current educational curriculum

(considering the lack of knowledge of the language of not only the students, but also the educators),

its effectiveness in contributing to patriotism, its potential to just end up being an aesthetic change,

and several other factors that need consideration in the said discussion.

CONSCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

PROCESS
INPUT OUTPUT

- Perceptions of
teachers and students
- Background knowledge on the use of
- Interview
and awareness of teachers Baybayin as a
questionnaires
and students on Baybayin medium of
 Checklist instruction in schools

- Factors that affect

their
approval/disapproval

Chapter III

RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers used qualitative design for this study, a research method that focuses on the

description and explanation of the different behaviors, opinions and actions toward a specific topic,
and draws more on characteristics and non-quantifiable data rather than numerical data, as defined

by McLeod (2019). It is a basic research which aims to expand the existing knowledge on the

perceptions of junior and senior high school students and teachers on Baybayin as a medium of

instruction. A phenomenological approach is used, in which the commonality of a lived experience

within a particular group serves as the focus of the study and first-hand knowledge of the chosen

topic is acquired by the individuals who will be interviewed (Chambers, 2013).

SOURCE OF DATA

The researchers gathered data from secondary sources such as PDFs, online articles, and

previous researches. Primary data was also collected by giving out interview questionnaires to

selected respondents.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The researchers used interview questionnaires, which as defined by Surbhi (2018), is a research

instrument in the type of a form consisting of a series of printed questions concerning the subject

matter, to extract the needed data from the selected respondents. A space is provided where the

respondents are to write their responses.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Purposeful random sampling was used by the researchers, a sample technique in which,

according to Cohen (2006), a population of interest is identified and a systematic way of adding

credibility to a sample is developed.

DATA TO BE GATHERED

1. Socio-demographic profile

2. As a student / teacher, do you think Baybayin should be used as a medium of instruction in

school? Explain your answer.

3. Are you open to the idea of changing the country’s national writing system to Baybayin? Why

or why not?

4. What are the factors you considered regarding your approval/disapproval?

DATA GATHERING

1. Formulate the questionnaire.

2. Validate the questionnaire.

3. Find the respondents.

4. Interpret the data collected.

5. Formulate a summary of the interpreted data.