BAYBAYIN. Leyte students attend the lecture 'Surat: The Early Visayan Script' at the Oriental Hotel in Palo, Leyte as part of the 75th Leyte Gulf Landings opening activities on Thursday (Oct. 10, 2019). The discussion is centered on the early writing system in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. (Photo courtesy of The Oriental Leyte)
PALO, Leyte -- The Leyte provincial government has kicked off the two-week 75th Leyte Gulf Landings commemoration activities through a lecture series on the early Visayan script.
The 3rd Quincentennial Lecture Series titled “Surat: The Early Visayan Script” held at the Oriental Hotel here on Thursday is also part of the nationwide campaign on the quincentennial celebration of First Easter Mass in the Orient or the First Mass in Limasawa island which will be celebrated on March 30, 2021.
The activity is organized by the National Quincentennial Committee in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Leyte provincial government, and the municipal government of Palo, Leyte.
The discussion is centered on the early writing system in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.
University of the Philippines-Manila Health Sciences Professor and Eastern Visayas resident historian Professor Rolando Borrinaga serves as the lecturer attended by secondary school students from some parts of Leyte and Ormoc City.
“As Filipinos, we need to have the historical and cultural awareness,” Borrinaga said.
Learning that there is an ancient script or way of writing of Filipino will help the younger generation to know that prior to the arrival of Spaniards or Western colonizers, there is already a civilization in the country that has a system of writing called the Baybayin.
“It's not difficult learning how to write our ancient writing. We must know to write in our old way,” Borrinaga added. He shared that learning the ancient way of the script is easy as this can be learned within a two to three-hour workshop.
In April 2018, the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved House Bill 1022 or the proposed "National Writing System Act" that seeks to declare Baybayin, as the country's national writing system.
The bill earned the support of the Department of Education and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, who welcomed the participants in the lecture, said the younger generation should learn history with accurate and correct information.
The pieces of information learned from history will help young people, who will become future leaders, to decide better on how to govern and solve the country's problem.
“To help solve our country's problem we need to understand and learn the lesson of the past for the new generation to be better equip with knowledge and skills to address challenges,” Petilla said.
Part of the lecture is the display of the national costume that Miss Universe Catriona Gray wore during the 2018 Miss Universe competition in Thailand.
Prior to the competition, Gray visited Tacloban with her team and talked with local artist Dante Enage and Borrinaga on how to come up with the design of her national costume.
The national costume is inspired by the tattoo motifs of Visayas ancestors called by the Spanish as “pintados”.
Shown in the Boxer Codex, it contains pages of the earliest known limned illustrations of Filipino ancestors described as “accustomed to painting their bodies with some very elegant tattoos”.
The national costume worn by Gray for the Miss Universe 2018 competition will be on display until October 24 at the Leyte Oriental Hotel Lobby.
On Oct. 20, Leyte province will commemorate the Leyte Gulf Landings, the largest naval battle in recorded history.
It was on Oct. 20, 1944, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur, together with President Sergio Osmena and Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, again set foot on Philippine soil, their first after they left Corregidor in 1942.
Their arrival started a battle that spanned 100,000 square miles of sea; and was fought for three days, from Oct. 23 to 25, 1944, during the invasion of Leyte by the Allied forces.
The battle signaled the fulfillment of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's famous words, “I shall return,” after going to Australia to muster support from the Allied forces in the quest to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1082802
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