Short Comment on the House Bill No. 1022: Buhayin Baybayin? (English)

Commonly mislabeled as “Alibata”, the ancient Filipino script Baybayin may now become the official national writing system of the Philippines if the National Writing System Act is approved by the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture.

While I am open and receptive to this move to reintroduce Baybayin, I believe that this revival of Baybayin seems to be a superficial "love our language and culture" move. Why? No one has pointed out that we can’t (this is different from “don’t”) even speak our Filipino languages in a straight manner in our daily lives... nor do we think of Filipino as a language of the sciences, reasoning, and logic. (Remember that math book in Taglish with "deep Tagalog"? Remember that Asian Boss video[1] where those pitiful teens can't even speak straight Tagalog? Remember that comedic-sounding Taglish Bible[2]?)

You may point out that the use of language is to simply communicate. I believe it is also a reflection of our culture. Spanish loanwords are more compatible to Tagalog (and English loanwords are fine as well as long as it is formally Filipinized). We are losing vocabulary in both languages if Taglish continues. It decays people's ability to speak straight English let alone straight Tagalog (though the former is more important to many). Sure Taglish is convenient, I speak it daily too, but when in formal writing/correspondence it is annoying when people can't render straight English or formal Tagalog. I am pretty much a person who wants formality and order in the right situation.

Of course, I bade time before I released this statement. I might be viewed as a reklamador or whiner if I reacted too soon without sensing the netizens’ pulse. In the end, I have an optimistic view: The use of Baybayin might simultaneously engage the users to think of more “original” (I refuse to use the word “pure” since it cannot be defined) Filipino and this more already decaying words will be resurrected to common use.

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYLFoUTJuGU

[2] http://www.manilatimes.net/bible-soon-available-in-conversational-filipino/394104/