Interview about i0s27 baybayin
● Ano po ang iyong unang reaksyon nang malaman na isusulong na rin ang Baybayin sa keyboard katulad ng sa iPhone iOS 27 upang magamit sa pang-araw-araw na komunikasyon? My first reaction was, so what? It's already been in Android for years; there have already been third‑party keyboard apps, and iOS for over ten years. Finally ● Paano po makatutulong ang mga ganitong paraan ng paglaganap ng Baybayin sa pagpreserba ng kasaysayan nito? It doesn't do much, if anything, to preserve the history. The history has been static for over 100 years, so now that there's an app, it does not do anything to preserve what is already there. What it can do is help push the conversation around culture, value, and how that leads to preservation. It can also force a conversation about our assumptions on writing, regionalism, and Filipino as the national language. I'm sure other ethnolinguistic groups will be angry at this and say that we have our own writing system, when the reality is that they aren't separate writing systems. The issue is that we are in a Manila, Tagalog-centric country. Baybayin on the iPhone is just an avatar for people to point at and be angry about, while the real issue is that socio-economic power needs to be decentralized from Manila. ● Ano po ang papel ng mga estudyante sa pagpreserba ng Baybayin gamit ang teknolohiya? The role of students is to use it beyond their college education and beyond their thesis. I've done around 50 interviews for people's thesis papers, but after they graduated, I've never heard from them again about any further research, thoughts, or progress on the writing system. They disappeared. I understand why they disappeared: because they had to find a job, and our cultural practices in general do not enable us to have a full-time living, a family, or even be rich in the future. So my challenge to students is: how do you practice your culture and make a living from it? How do you incorporate it into your values and then take action from those values? That leads to preservation. That's my formula: V (values) + A (action)= P (preservation). ● Ano po sa tingin niyo ang magiging epekto ng paglalagay ng Baybayin bilang isang iskrip sa iOS 27 sa perspektibo ng pagpreserba ng kultura’t kasaysayan? Dapat din po bang gamitin ang ibang iskrip na ginamit sa bansa natin? I don't think it'll have much of an impact because iPhone users in the Philippines are only between 10% and 15% of overall usage.iPhone users tend to be more affluent, and the more affluent you are, the less likely you are to be into the culture to actually practice it. Since the keyboard has been on Android for years now, has there been a difference? Yes. Before, I was the only one with the script on my social media profile, and now I see it more often. I think we need to have an honest conversation about what a separate writing system is. But we first have to talk about the original sin of making Filipino the national language. It all stems from that. I don't think it should be labeled Baybayin either. But to answer a question about different scripts, I would say Surat Mangyan should be in there. But I think it should be labeled by language. Kulitan wouldn't be compatible. Basahan, Kuritan, Badlit, etc shouldn't be classified as a separate writing system. ● Kaugnay sa paparating na iOS 27 update, ano ang mga susunod na hakbang na sa tingin niyo ay makatutulong mas maipalaganap ang Baybayin? What will help spread the script more is decolonizing ourselves. We can be modern people and decolonize at the same time. It's not a zero-sum game. When we can look at our cultural practice as everyday life, normal, and not a tourist attraction in our own country. Less poverty would also help spread it, because people need the luxury of exploring things that don't earn them money. So all these tactics- whether it’s websites, social media, apps- yeah, they help a little, but having a reckoning of the socio‑political system is much more critical.