m
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
)
REPUBLIC O F TH E PH ILIPPINES )
F irst R egular S essio n
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*16 JUL19 A10'-2fl
SENATE
S.B. NO.
Kl f KIVKI) BY;
433
I n tr o d u c e d b y SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA
AN ACT PROMOTING TH E USE O F BAYBAYIN AS A TOOL FO R CULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT O F TH E PH ILIPPIN ES, PROVIDING FO R IT S PROMOTION,
PROTECTION, PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION, AND FO R OTHER
PURPOSES.
E x planatory Note
The “B aybayin” is a n a n c ie n t Philippine system of w riting com posed of a se t of
17 cursive c h a ra c te rs or le tte rs w hich re p re se n ts e ith e r a single c o n so n a n t or
vowel or a com plete syllable. To recognize o u r trad itio n a l w riting sy ste m s w hich
are objects of n a tio n a l im p o rtan ce a n d considered a s a N ational C u ltu ra l
T reasu re, th e “B aybayin”, a n in digenous n a tio n al w riting sc rip t w hich will be
T agalog-based n a tio n a l w ritten language a n d one of th e existing native w ritten
languages, is hereb y declared collectively a s th e "B aybayin” N ational W riting
Script of th e co u n try . H ence, it sh o u ld be prom oted, p ro tected , preserved a n d
conserved for p o sterity for th e n ex t generation.
T his bill, therefore, se ek s to prom ote, protect, preserve a n d conserve th e scrip t
th ro u g h th e following (a) by req u irin g food m a n u fa c tu re rs to inscribe
“B aybayin” sc rip ts
a n d th e ir tra n sla tio n on c o n ta in e rs or labels; (b) by
m an d atin g th e LGUs to u se “B aybayin” sc rip ts in th e ir signage for stre e t
n am es, public facilities, am ong others; (c) by req u irin g n e w sp a p er a n d
m agazine p u b lish e rs to in clude “B aybayin” tra n s la tio n of th e ir official nam e;
a n d (d) by d irecting th e a p p ro p ria te governm ent agency to d issem in ate
knowledge a n d inform ation a b o u t “B aybayin” sc rip t by d istrib u tin g read in g
m aterials in all levels of public a n d private e d u c a tio n al in stitu tio n s a n d all
governm ent a n d private agencies a n d offices to instill a w a re n e ss of the
d eclaration of “B aybayin” a s th e n a tio n al w riting system .
To give u s a glim pse of th e legacies of th e p a s t th a t rem a in to sh a p e th e p re se n t
a n d th e fu tu re of o u r c o u n try , p a ssa g e of th is bill is e a rn e stly sought.
LOREN LEGARDA
S e n a to r