Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Sept. 22 (PIA)
— In the unveiling of two of the country’s oldest-known written scripts as
declared national cultural treasures (NCTs), separate moves are in to
popularize more the baybayin in incorporating them in official logos of
government agencies.
It can be recalled that the
National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) unveiled a marker for two old
Tagalog baybayin documents at the University of Santo Tomas, while declaring
the two as NCTs. The declaration was reportedly NAP’s first.
Earlier, anthropologists and
researchers in the ancient and traditional scripts have agreed on the
need to conduct extensive and intensive research on the baybayin, as a medium
used by our ancestors in giving meaning to objects and events.
Baybayin has been widely referred to
as that Tagalog word for script, writing, or syllabary.
The country has several baybayins
including those found in the Palaw’an, Tagbanua, Hanunuo Mangyan, and Buhid
Mangyan.
But owing to the unpopularity of the
baybayins, legislators are now finding measures that aim to promote and
preserve the baybayins.
Among them is Senate Bill No. 1899
which mandates all government agencies, departments, and offices to incorporate
Baybayins in their official logos.
The move shows the government taking
the lead role in promoting Filipino Culture and traditions, strengthen Filipino
identity, and instill the same in everyday life.
The logos and seals of government
agencies and offices should not only reflect the emblems of their functions and
duties but also pride in Filipino heritage and traditions, according to the
bill’s sponsor, Senator Loren Legarda.
On this, some government offices and
agencies have already incorporated the baybayin in their official logos.
Another bill, Senate Bill 2440, aims
to declare the baybayin as the national writing script of the Philippines and
mandates the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to lead the
promotion, protection, preservation, and conservation of the
baybayin.
The measure accordingly mandates
local food manufacturers to inscribe baybayin and their translations in
containers or labels, for local governments to use baybayin in their
street name signages, public facilities, newspapers, and magazines to include a
baybayin translation of their official name, according to the NCCA.
(rmn/rac/PIA-7Bohol)
- See more at:
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1101442889034/measures-to-popularize-philippine-baybayin-set#sthash.pK1d1ECw.dpuf