DFA Consular Office in Lipa City Participates in “Sulat Sinauna: Talakayan Tungkol sa mga Sinaunang Sulat ng Bansa” Workshop

LIPA CITY 25 August 2020 – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Consular Office (CO) in Lipa City’s personnel actively participated in the workshop entitled, “Sulat Sinauna: Talakayan Tungkol sa mga Sinaunang Sulat ng Bansa” which was held live via the official DFA Facebook account on 22 August 2020.

The highly interesting online activity, led by the DFA–Office of Strategic Communications and Research (OSCR)–Cultural Diplomacy Division (CDD), tackled Baybayin as an example of the richness of Filipino origins and culture. 

Personnel of the CO learned about how Baybayin forms part of Filipinos’ “sulat ninuno/katutubong sulat”, as discussed by the resource speaker from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), Senior Researcher Ian Christopher B. Alfonso, during his talk on the history of the Philippine indigenous script. 

Another resource speaker, Mr. Leo Emmanuel Castro, a trained Filipino archaeologist with a special interest on Filipino indigenous culture and Executive Director of Hibla Sanghabi, shared a few basic techniques in writing Baybayin. This allowed the CO participants to try their hand in writing and understanding the script.

The CO’s personnel found the online lecture interesting and stimulating, especially since the Baybayin script has been a rising trend among young people and has been serving as a springboard for discovering and deeper appreciation for Filipino cultural identity. END