Ancient and Traditional Scripts of the Philippines
The Baybayin: Ancient and Traditional Scripts of the Philippines Gallery is a permanent exhibition highlighting baybayin – a Filipino traditional syllabic writing system. It features and promotes awareness of the writing systems used by the early Filipinos, through a showcase of archaeological artifacts, archival records from the Spanish colonial era, and ethnographic collection. Baybayin, as widely used by coastal groups since 16th century, were often inscribed on leaves using pigments, or on bamboos using sharp objects for engraving. This was eventually replaced by the Roman alphabet but retained in the islands of Mindoro (Buhid-Mangyan and Hanunuo-Mangyan) and Palawan (Pala’wan and Tagbanua) until today.