Lecture conducted by Mr. Bonifacio Comandante, Jr.
Tambunting Hall, Museum of the Filipino People
National Museum of the Philippines
3 March, 2010
Baybayin was the alphabet of the early settlers of the Philippine archipelago. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian / Austronesian group of languages. Records and documents written in baybayin were almost completely obliterated and destroyed during Spanish colonial rule which explains why there are only very few artifacts in the country exhibiting the old system of writing. Among these are the writings found in Angono caves, the Laguna Copper Plate, Calatagan Pot, Butuan Silver, Paris Codex, Doctrina Christiana, Vienna Codex, artifacts from the Tagbanua and Mangyan, and artifacts used in rituals by the people in Banahaw.
Mr. Comandante's study about the baybayin focuses on its origin. He postulated a theory that the forms of the bayabayin alphabet came from giant clams. He said the baybayin characters are based on the forms or shapes that Filipino ancestors found on giant clams. He further discussed the relation of the distribution of giant clams and global extent of betel nut chewing with the extent of Austronesian/ Malayo-polynesian speaking cultures. He argued that there is a relation since the three factors' extent of distribution seem to coincide.
