Running head: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN The Importance of the Mangyan Writing System: The Surat Mangyan Restituto Reyes Pitogo Resource Person, Mangyan Heritage Center, Inc. Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines Presented at the First Baybayin Summit Sison Auditorium, Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines April 9-11, 2015 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 2 Abstract The Mangyan Script (Surat-Mangyan) is one of the few remaining Filipino baybayin scripts handed to us by the Hanunuo-Mangyans of Mindoro. Guided by the research of Antoon Postma, a Dutch Anthropologist & expert in Mangyanology, and the advocacy of the Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC), the Hanunuo-Mangyan has consciously preserved Surat-Mangyan from the demise that many baybayin scripts went through. Their society persisted in using SuratMangyan hand in hand with their chanted poetry, the ambahan. To date, Surat-Mangyan in its enhanced form is very much alive and used in their schools and everyday life. The SuratMangyan is of an extreme value. It is more than a legacy of the Mangyans to our national baybayin advocacy. While not preserved in metal plates but in bamboo & wooden slabs of less archeological perpetuity, Surat-Mangyan is a living baybayin script embedded in their ecocentric consciousness and traditions. It has a unique function of perpetrating their indigenous expression that have survived through centuries of colonization. While like most indigenous baybayin scripts that lack the features and characteristics of fully developed Asian scripts and modern alphabets, Surat-Mangyan has articulated effectively the language of their social life in the form of poetry, prayer, contract, love letter, and other cultural expressions. Without the Surat-Mangyan, it is very hard to imagine how over 20,000 ambahans collected and transcribed by Postma survived our colonial and post-colonial eras. Together, the ambahan and SuratMangyan form an inseparable national legacy that gives us a glimpse to the wealth of our preHispanic consciousness, philosophy, literature, art and poetic heritage. In fact, Surat-Mangyan and the ambahan form an integrated piece, representing a metaphoric expression of the poetic genius and spiritual sensitivity of Indigenous Filipinos prior to Christian and Western influences. Thanks to our Mangyan elders and poets, who labored to scribe the ambahan in bamboo pieces! THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN Today, through this scripted literary piece, we can understand ourselves better and offer something better than our globally oriented dysfunctional society. To live this script and literary treasure, we cannot but rediscover our sense and value for eco-human serenity, wellbeing and respect for everything. Keywords: Baybayin, Mangyan script, Surat-Mangyan, Ambahan, Mangyan, HanunuoMangyan Script, Baybayin summit, Mangyan Heritage Center 3 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 4 The Importance of the Mangyan Writing System: The Surat Mangyan In December 1986, six months after working as a Jesuit volunteer with the AlanganMangyans of Naujan, I first encountered the Hanunuo-Mangyans in the municipality of Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro. I took my initial immersion with this Mangyan tribe at Panaytayan, a promontory about two-hour walk from the town. Months later, I met Antoon Postma, a Dutch anthropologist and linguist, father of Mangyanology, at his Panaytayan home. We spent days and hours of conversations regarding his work and discovery about the Mangyans. In his library, the Mangyan Assistance & Research Center (MARC), I found a wealth of original, unpublished materials accumulated during his over 30 years of ethnographic research and culture immersion with the Hanunuo-Mangyans. I did not know then that, 30 years later, I would be in a similar position to talk in behalf of the Hanunuo-Mangyan culture--a privilege I have for this First Baybayin Summit. However, I do not speak here alone, as I share the cultural aspiration and advocacy of the Hanunuo-Mangyans, represented by their tribal organization – the Pinagkausahan Hanunuo sa Daga Ginurang (PHADAG). Together with me is my colleague, Ms. Anya Intsik Postma, daughter of Antoon Postma, and Ms. Emerenciana L. Catapang, the Executive Director of Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC). The Mangyan syllabic script (the Surat-Mangyan) is one of the few surviving Filipino indigenous scripts. Of all eight Mangyan ethnolinguistic tribes (the Iraya, Alangan & Tadyawan of the north, the Tau-buid &Bangon of the center, and the Buhid, Hanunuo & Ratagnon of the southern part of Mindoro), only the Hanunuo and Buhid Mangyans have their endangered systems of writing linked their well-developed poetic discourses. These scripts have been the subject of many years of research done by Postma (1968, 1974, 1986, 2002, 2013) and others THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 5 (Kroeber, 1919, Beyer, 1921, Gardner & Maliwanag, 1939, Conkin 1949). To date, efforts have been done to collect, preserve and promote these two important cultural legacies (Catapang, 2014). More than 10 years after his seminal book, Treasure of a Minority, Postma published a book, Mga Ambahan-Mangyan, which contains the 261 ambahans of his Treasure collection, written in the Hanunuo-Mangyan Script, transliterated into Latin alphabet with English translation (1989). As indicated in the preface, Postma intended this book to Hanunuo- Mangyan readers, first by thanking them helping preserve the ambahan and, second by exhorting them to take care of their treasure for future generation. He said “Dapat una katida, may imaw waya mga bagay mahalaga ti balaw madura sa buhi Mangyan. Imaw ngani ti tanan mga layi ag tun-anon kanyo minana o nasulpot ginan sa kanyo mga gurang hanggan mga umpot waya” (1989). Postma, in an agreement with scholars, recognized a high level of Mangyan literacy both scripts and traditions. He likewise reiterated that the preservation and sustainability of their ambahan for the next generation (bag-o sinulpot) would happen because of their familiarity with their script. He was well aware that their script and literary traditions pervaded every aspects of the Hanunuo-Mangyan life. Interestingly, I also found out that there existed an intimate connection of the Mangyan script and the ambahan poetry. Purpose of Script We know that script is one of the great discoveries of ancient civilizations following the faculty of speech and the invention of language. Socially, humans have to communicate and express meaning through speech mediated by language, either figuratively or literally. As speech, language and communication developed, ancient civilizations invented diverse scripts. For centuries, various peoples communicate through their own languages and systems of script, continuously developing language from the speech event to text form and then to digital form. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 6 This development brought progress to human history, knowledge, technology, civilization, society, communication & culture in general. Without the aid of script, it is hard to imagine a world without text. Text is essential. It is the evidence of human experience as determined by the phenomenon of time (Ricoeur, 1976). Without text, spoken language cannot take the form of written words, sentences and paragraphs, and cannot be preserved in permanent/semi-permanent form. Language, the mother of script, also a social construction, embodies the conventions and thoughts shared by our community using a particular language. Through language, we can construct meaning and shape human consciousness. Language graphically represented in writing has the power to create an ideology and to instill a belief. In its written form, language is a result and a means to shape human consciousness. Without writing, it is impossible to preserve knowledge accumulated over centuries of human learning and discoveries. In fact, without the script, it is hard to imagine how major world religions flourished through generations. Various civilizations created culture, language and script diversities, which enriched the study and discovery of peoples, their societies, histories and religions. However, with the onslaught of globalization and the emerging global lifestyle, ethnic cultures and languages have been declining. Premsrirat and Malone warned about the siege on language diversity (2013). Echoing the fear of many, they predicted that at least half of the world’s language would be dead by the end of the century. As such, they called for revitalization and development of minority language beyond its traditional oral stage. Since indigenous scripts are inherent in the mother languages and cultures that brought them along, revitalization of indigenous scripts goes hand in hand with the revitalization of indigenous language and culture. While we cannot reduce language to script and vice-versa, we THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 7 cannot undervalue the functionality and impact of the script on the development of language as an ethnic expression and consciousness. We know that language emerges from specific social discourses in which the community (its language and culture bearers) enriches the language and develops the script as a free, viable and efficacious form of social expression and communication. Ethnic language and script work together to support intergenerational sustainability of culture. For this summit, the effort to highlight the importance and encourage the use of different pre-Hispanic scripts as part of our national signs and symbols aptly supports our sense of national pride and cultural heritage. From this standpoint, the Mangyan script appears as a valuable tangible evidence of Filipino cultural expressions and treasures. Like any Philippine scripts, it can help us re-access, re-interpret and re-frame our historic and culture paradigm. Fittingly, to value our indigenous scripts is to preserve not only our pre-colonial roots but also to encourage us to look into their contents and forms, and gain insights about our identity. By caring for our indigenous scripts, we value them to safeguard them. In so doing, we seek to understand and form ourselves better. In this continuing cycle of caring, safeguarding, appreciating and discovery, we can assert that we are a nation not created by our colonial masters. With this in the background, I shall present the importance of the Hanunuo-Mangyan script as I see it from my ethnological study & hermeneutic discovery since 1987. I shall highlight the power of this script in preserving the Mangyan culture and worldview despite the domination of the Latin alphabet that pervades the Philippine society. It is indeed an honor to share my humble understanding of the Mangyan worldview, their ambahan and the SuratMangyan. However, I shall refer to the Surat-Mangyan in the latest version (Postma, 2013) now used for the preservation and promotion of the script. I shall not dwell on the formal aspects of THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 8 Surat-Mangyan as approached from orthography, morphology, or philology. On value, I will limit my discussion on the functional, historical, and culture-hermeneutical role of the SuratMangyan in the context of their struggle for fullness and sustainability of life (Pitogo, 2010, pp.240-249, 2008). I shall present the Surat-Mangyan as a tool for sufficiency and preservation of the ambahan and its values. I shall highlight the Mangyan’s unique way of dealing with their vulnerability in the midst of social exclusions and anthropogenic forces that threaten their communities. In their quest for freedom from marginalization, poverty & social injustices. Treating the Surat-Mangyan The Hanunuo-Mangyans have consciously preserved the Surat-Mangyan, their indigenous system of writing, from the extinction that many Philippine scripts went through. Their society persisted in using this script, hand in hand with their chanted poetry, the ambahan. Now, they are aware of the value of this script as a recognized national cultural treasure and a world heritage (Catapang 2014). As a living heritage, their indigenous system of writing is not just a paleographic piece of a distant past, now kept in a museum or merely existing a matter of an academic study. The Hanunuo-Mangyans embrace their script as a living treasure and practice it in their communities, schools and social gatherings. Postma estimated that about 70% of the Hanunuo-Mangyan population practiced and knew their script (1974, p.192). At present, we have strong evidence to believe that still a majority of the Hanunuo-Mangyans are literate in the Surat-Mangyan for two reasons: (a) Continuous informal learning in their community and (b) formal teaching in the elementary schools. Still, the script is vulnerable to the threat of extinction due to the acculturation of young generations of Mangyans to the dominant system of modern alphabet, language and culture. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 9 Yet, we cannot regard their script merely as a historic material. To treat the script this way does not give respect to the fact that the Hanunuo-Mangyans have immense passion for it. In my mind, centuries of isolation from Western influence might have create a condition for the expected preservation of the script, but this could not happen without any strong conviction to nurture the script in history and oral traditions. In fact, if we ask different Hanunuo-Mangyan communities, they would rather insist on improving the way to use the script and encourage the young people to use it. They would even be happier if the schools would use it and the State would encourage its citizens to use it with other Filipino scripts. Essentially, the Mangyans have historic, moral and legal rights to claim for themselves that this script is their legacy to our national consciousness. While we have no access to their untold stories and unrecorded actions that went through the course of their history, we cannot deny the worth of their oral tradition in preserving the script. Indeed, we do not need scientific proofs to convince others that such preservation is of their own volition & doing. Preservation as valuing and as improving is not an accidence of history. Centuries of tribal isolation and selfsufficiency do not explain fully the survival of the script through tens of generations. Rather, their devotion to literature and culture breeds their dedication to their script. To me, this gives solid justification as to why the Hanunuo-Mangyans succeeded in keeping the Surat-Mangyan for roughly 800 to 1,000 years. In this light, we give dignity to this indigenous script if we do not alienate it from the oral tradition that nurtured it. Rightfully, we need to treat the script as the form and the oral tradition as the content of this immensely rich reality. As form, the Surat-Mangyan is a tangible cultural heritage, and as content, it contains the ambahan (including the Mangyan poetic imagination, literary skill & cultural conviction) representing an intangible cultural heritage -- as loosely THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 10 defined by UN during the International Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention of 2003 (Kurin, 2004). Since it is absurd to separate the tangible from the intangible, such that they exist like a body & soul, we need to consider them as an organic unity and not separate entities. It means that the script as form and the oral literary tradition as content represent a single experience and way of the Mangyans to constitute their world. For this reason, we cannot explain the Surat-Mangyan, its importance and contribution to national heritage, unless we look deeper into its bamboo representation and metaphors. There are strong reasons why we should not treat Surat-Mangyan as a distinct field of inquiry. First, an examination of the evidences and studies about the script only reflect the intimate bond of the script with the ambahan poetry. Thousands of ambahan pieces recorded, transcribed and collected were actually in the old Surat-Mangyan. Historical and anthropological evidences indicate the ambahan purpose & use of this indigenous script. Ironically, the earliest historic proof of the script does not refer to literary expression. Nonetheless, there are many bamboo evidences of the Surat-Mangyan containing hundreds if not thousands of ambahan poems indicating the literary use of the script. In fact, the 1792 material of the script below does not say more too much about the cultural value of the script. Figure 1 (Courtesy of MHC): The earliest proof of old Surat-Mangyan, dated 1792 AD, transcribed and translated by Postma to be a written petition to build a fort (kuta) against the enemies - at Manaol, Mansalay. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 11 Second, based on field research from 1986 to 1991, I found out that Surat-Mangyan had a special value and purpose in the Hanunuo-Mangyan environment. Over 90% of the script I encountered in the Mangyan settlements, foot trails, feasts and occasions was dedicated to ambahan. This validated the findings of Conklin that the Mangyan syllabic writing on his description of “bamboo literacy” (1949). Likewise, this form of writing accounts up to 85% Surat-Mangyan applied to love songs (Conklin 1949, 1955, 1960; Postma 1989, cited by Kuipers & McDermott 1996). The traditional Mangyan script functions more for love and poetic expression and not as a means for historical, religious and legal documentation (Conklin, 1960). Third, if we examine the structure of the traditional Mangyan script and structure of the ambahan archaic language, both share the syllabic nature of the ambahan lyrical speech pattern. Each ambahan line containing seven syllables chanted with an ending rhyme. For example: Ambahan 100 No lan-tang mag-bug-tu-ngan Translation English: If you choose to be alone Filipino: Kung piliing mag-isa English: Your destiny will be worn! Kay sa - la- kap gi - ra - ngan Filipino: Tatanda ‘yang tadhana! Every line has seven glyphs corresponding to the seven chanted syllables. Both this harmony represents a predictable pattern of tones, rhymes and glyphs in the rule of seven syllables per line, with the last line in emphatic tonal notes. As a result, reading and speaking the ambahan line appears emotionally poetical —as if each syllabic character resembles a musical note. As such, reading the ambahan in Surat-Mangyan, one has to chant vocally or mentally each line while reading or writing. It appears then that the harmony of the script and the ambahan verse is one of the greatest unseen inventions of Hanunuo-Mangyan ingenuity. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 12 Fourth, bamboo evidences of the Surat-Mangyan indicate an aesthetic feature such as a figure of cross at the beginning, angular designs and other decorative features (see Postma, 1974). This explains why that despite the advent of paper and electronic writing tool, the bamboo remains as a basic material for ambahan artistic expression. Understanding the Surat-Mangyan The Surat-Mangyan is the indigenous syllabaries of the Hanunuo-Mangyans of Mindoro consisting of 48 characters used for communication and for preserving their indigenous chanted poetry, the ambahan. Each character stands for a syllable: three characters are vowels (a, e/i & o/u), and 45 are consonants with open end-vowel (-a). The number of characters are limited -owing to the simple phonetic structure of the Mangyan languages – and cannot adequately express the certain phenomes in their languages (Postma, 1974). A variant of the Philippine indigenous group of scripts (herein referred to as the baybayin), the Surat-Mangyan is regarded as an abugida – which is a consonant-vowel (CV) syllable with the inherent vowel –a (e.g. ba, ka, da, wa, etc.) when unmarked, and has CV syllable marked with diacritics to change –a ending vowel (–a) to e/-i or -o/-u ending vowel (e.g. be/bi, bo/bu, ke/ki or ko/ku, etc.). This feature is clearly Indic-derived because of the placement of the diacritic mark: Above the basic character for short “i” and below the basic character for short “u” (Postma, 1974, p.195). Indic scripts are very thorough in representing CV syllables and in using diacritics for representing other vowels (see Kuipers & McDermott, 1996, p.476). Now, there is a difference in terms of script limitations between Indic-derived Philippine scripts and Sulawesi scripts. The baybayin family in which the traditional Surat-Mangyan belongs cannot represent the closed syllables (CVC form). It is because the traditional SuratMangyan cannot cut vowel “a” from the open syllable (CV) to the consonant only (C). We can THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 13 see this limitation in the baybayin ancestor, the kawi script, an old script, derived from Sanskrit and originating from Java, and used across Southeast Asian (SEA) from 8th century to 16th century. Unlike the kawi, the Sumatran scripts developed special mark to eliminate the vowel of CV syllable and produce a CVC syllable (Kuipers & McDermott, 1996, p.476). As such, I also agree that the Surat-Mangyan like other baybayin scripts is a descendant of SEA syllabic system particularly that of kawi scripts. Postma illustrates evidently this link to SEA syllabaries in four areas, namely: (a) the nature of the script and its system of denoting vowel change (b) the direction of writing & the writing material used (c) the shape of characters, and (d) certain typographical peculiarities (Postma, 1974, cited by Catapang, 2014). A 19th century comprehensive philological study of the Malayan family group supports this claim (Humboldt [1767-1835], cited by Weissbach, 1999). However, it is difficult to establish the precise development of this script and the date of its arrival in the Philippines. It is because the so-called science of paleography often relies on circular reasoning because there is insufficient data to draw precise conclusion about dating, and scholars tend to oversimplify diachronic development, assuming models of simplicity rather than complexity (Schniedewind, 2005). What we know is that there is a great amount of influence of Indian Sanskrit on the Surat-Mangyan. Nonetheless, Postma succeeded in creating a chart of Mangyan Syllabic Scripts as a standard writing system used today. The latest 2013 version restored the old characters for ra, re/ri and ro/ru in lieu of those borrowed by Postma from the Buhid script (Postma, 1986, 2002, 2013). This chart is an outcome of consultations with Hanunuo-Mangyan elders and communities and approved by PHADAG (Catapang, 2014): THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN a e/i ba 14 o/u na ne/ni no/nu be/bi bo/bu nga nge/ngi ngo/Ngu ka ke/ki ko/ku pa pe/pi po/pu da de/di do/du ra re/ri ro/ru ge/gi go/gu sa se/si so/su ha he/hi ho/hu ta te/ti to/tu la le/li lo/lu wa we/wi wo/wu ma me/mi mo/mu ya ye/yi yo/yu ga The above chart serves as the standard teaching material in the school. Mangyans students are taught how to write using this chart in elementary schools. Figure-2 (Copyright MHC): Surat-Mangyan taught in public elementary schools involving the cultural master and script master as resource. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 15 Based on angular and stroke of the 16 major characters of the script, we can discern patterns that can be helpful for memorizing the characters: ha pattern a pattern ba pattern The above features in the pattern of open-syllables (CV) reflect a certain symmetry and consistency in the angular writing. Notice also that strokes are generally straight line (hence angular) while line curves are appearing only in ka, ma & wa syllables. These 16 characters of the Mangyan script system reflect some kind of progressions, which appear interconnected and coherent to one another. For me, it is easier to memorize the characters if we follow the above patterns instead of the abakada pattern used in the Surat-Mangyan chart. Historical Value of the Surat-Mangyan Back in the 1950s, a moving figure in the ethno-scientific approach to anthropology, Dr. Harold C. Conklin made significant findings about the ethno-botanical life of the HanunuoMangyans during his post-war research at Yagaw, Mansalay from 1947-1958. His studies provided significant discoveries and implications in the field of ethnology, ecology, linguistics, and anthropology in general and Mangyanology in particular. With Conklin’s findings, we THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 16 were able to put together a perspective that negated the colonial belief that the Mangyans were primitive, uncivilized & ignorant (e.g. Mangyan ka kasi!). He noted: “Except among one neighboring tribe, the Buid, and a few of Central Tagbanuwa on Palawan Island, there are no other surviving Indic scripts in the Philippines today, and only among the Hanunuo does a high degree of literacy in this syllabic form of writing prevail” (Conklin, 1949, p.4). His ethnographic studies provided a breakthrough that served as a benchmark for subsequent preservation work and researches on the Mangyan ethnic languages and scripts. Postma’s big contribution to the study of Surat-Mangyan underlines the historic, poetic & linguistic value of the Mangyan scripts. In 1974, Postma theorized the Mangyan scripts were already part of their culture when they settled down in Mindoro (p.197). It was believed, based on oral traditions that the scripts (Hanunuo & Buhid) were brought by them when they migrated to Mindoro from the south (presumably from Malaysia or Indonesia). This is consistent with the description of the historic path of the script to insular Southeast Asian scripts from the South Indian Scripts of the Pallava dynasty that spread through maritime commerce and religion crossing 3,000 miles from the Straits of Malacca to the Philippines (Kuipers & McDermott, 1996, p.474). Based on charting and comparison of various SE scripts, similarities and variations in graphic systems from Sumatra, Sulawesi and the Philippines were noted. Postma detailed analysis supported this claim (1974). THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 17 Figure-3 (Copyright MHC): Dr. Harold C. Conklin and Bapa Antoon Postma, two great men of Mangyanology, during Dr. Conklin’s visit to Panaytayan, Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro. At the background is Yam-ay I. Postma, wife of Bapa Antoon. With the help of Conklin and Postma, the two moving figures behind the national discovery of the Hanunuo-Mangyans’ rich culture heritage, language & script, we learned that throughout an era of isolationism from foreign colonization, the Hanunuo-Mangyans have offered something that we can truly be proud of as a nation. Their script, their poetry and their ethno-ecological sense of their world provide us a legacy that this First Baybayin Summit gives importance, too. The Surat Mangyan, together with the Buhid and the Tagbanwa scripts, were declared by the National Museum as National Cultural Treasures on December 9, 1997, and these scripts were officially inscribed in the "MEMORY OF THE WORLD" REGISTER of UNESCO on October 6, 1999 (Mangyan Heritage Center). In giving recognition to Ginaw Bilog (+ 2003), a National Living Treasure Awardee, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) stated that “The Filipinos are grateful to the Hanunuo Mangyan for having preserved a distinctive heritage form our ancient civilization that colonial rule had nearly THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 18 succeeded in destroying. The nation is justifiably proud of Ginaw Bilog for vigorously promoting the elegantly poetic art of the Surat Mangyan and the ambahan” (1993). Meanwhile, the discovery of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) in the 1980s, which Postma validated as an authentic 900AD kawi script (Postma, 1992), proved the theory about a developed pre-Hispanic civilization linked to the maritime trade in the Southeast Asia. In our discussions, Postma hypothesized that probably the Mangyan script dated back to 9th century at the earliest, almost about the time the kawi script reached the Luzon through the crosssea trade. However, while scholars may disagree as to the origin of the indigenous script (kawi script from Java, Indonesia or from the language of Bugis people of Sulawesi, east of Borneo), some believed that the arrival of the baybayin script in the Philippines was a much later period-in the 13th or 14th century (Paul Morrow, 1991). Whether the period is 13th /14th or 9th/10th C or much earlier, we are certain that Surat-Mangyan antedated the coming of the Spaniards in the 16th century. In broad strokes based on his rigorous study of the languages from Madagascar to Southeast Asia including the Philippines to the Pacific in the east including New Zealand, the German philosopher & linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt (Weissbach, 1999) established a theory that there was a single Malayan-Polynesian language culture that was very much influenced by the Indian Sanskrit language. He asserted: “If we consider their dwelling-place, their mode of government, their history, and above all their language, the peoples of Malayan stock stand in a stranger connection with peoples of different culture than perhaps any other people on earth. They inhabit merely islands and archipelagoes, which are spread so far and wide, however, as to furnish irrefutable testimony of their early skills as navigators. . . . If we take together the members of these ethnic groups who deserve to be called Malayan in the narrower sense . . . we find these people, to name only points where the linguist encounters adequately studied material, on the Philippines, and there in the most richly developed and individual state of language, on Java, Sumatra, Malacca, and Madagascar. . . “ (Humboldt, 1836-1839, cited by Weissbach, 1999, p.30). THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 19 Figure-4: Humboldt’s Malayo-Polenesian Language Culture Group (Weissbach, 1999, p.31) Humboldt believed that the people of this region had attained rich literary works, many of which disappeared and while others survived when recorded in writing at a later period. He found out that an overwhelming Indian influence, not only in language and script, but also in religion, literature, and customs, affected the Malayan circle (Indian archipelago per se) and admitted that there was undeniably a social civilization of their own that predated Indian colonization. He saw the ocean not as a hindrance but as a connecting factor among the peoples in the Malayan-Polynesian language culture group. When this group came in contact with Indian civilization, its peoples were attracted to Hinduism, which created a spiritual-moral change on the roots of the civilization of the Malayan group. He claimed that Hinduism “struck roots among the Malaysian people,” showing “that as a spiritual force set the imagination to work and became powerful through impression wrought upon the admiration of peoples capable of development.” (Weissbach, 1999, p.39). THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 20 In this consideration of the Indian-Malayan contact and his analysis of the Kawi language, Humboldt asserted that the Tagalic (i.e., representing the indigenous language in the Philippines) incorporates a considerable number of Sanskrit words (Weissbach, 1999). This happened because the Indian colonists who settled in Java many centuries before must have used Sanskrit as their living, spoken language in the settled area. The script used for kawi must have been introduced by the Indians, and the Sanskrit elements must have taken up by other languages like the Biscaya and Tagalic in the Philippines. To him, Tagalic language was of crucial importance because: (a) it shows a very broad agreement with Malaysian; (b) of all the languages in the Malayan group, it has the richest grammatical development; (c) neither Arabic nor Indian religion or literature have altered Tagalog original color; and (d) there is other language of the group which has so many research aids like dictionaries and grammars (Weissbach, 1999, p.36). Having enlightened by Humboldt’s work, and in the absence of metal, stone or pot evidences of the Hanunuo-Mangyan script, it would take a combination of oral tradition, collective memory & conviction of its culture bearers, and the bamboo writing material to bring the Surat-Mangyan legacy down to our generation. By oral history, the Hanunuo-Mangyan gurangon (elders) attested to the pre-Hispanic origin of the script, as something handed down to them since time immemorial. While scholars and culture bearers agree on the pre-Hispanic origin of the Mangyan script derived from Indic origin, we cannot establish how the detailed development of the script in Hanunuo-Mangyan history. What we have are oral tradition and the belief that their ancestors handed down to them the Mangyan script. Whatever route this script has taken to reach our current generation is of less importance than the fact this script has survived. To me, the Mangyan script in bamboo material is solid material evidence of its survival in the long history of their socio-cultural struggle for self-sufficiency and sustainability. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 21 In its use outside of ambahan, the earliest historical document we have about attesting to the use of the Surat-Mangyan in commerce was one-dated 1792 in Mansalay. In other official documents stored in Manila, Mangyans affix their signatures in the syllabic script. Meanwhile, the oldest bamboo artifacts available today bearing the Mangyan scripts are more than a century old (Catapang, 2014). Cultural & Educational Value of the Surat-Mangyan We can categorize the Surat-Mangyan into two periods: The traditional, pre-pamudpod period (i.e., before 1986) and the contemporary, pamudpod period (1986, Primer to Mangyan Script (i.e., 1986 to present). The improved Surat-Mangyan adopted the use of a “cutting off” symbol (diacritic mark) called pamudpod to solve the inherent problem not being able to represent the final consonant of CVC syllable. This arc-shaped sign is “similar in form and function to the one used in Balinese and Javanese scripts as evidenced in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 A.D, discovered three years after Postma introduced the pamudpod in 1986” (Catapang, 2014, p.7). Postma’s Primer (1986) illustrates the change in using the pamudpod and the benefit of eliminating difficulty of reading the Surat-Mangyan (Catapang, 2014). To eliminate error in interpreting the intended word of the writer, the new Primer to Surat-Mangyan illustrates the use of pamudpod T, the use of pamudpod in this example (Postma, 2013): ba + ka ba + ka + l ba + ng + ka ba + ng + ka + l THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 22 Value of Traditional Surat-Mangyan (Pre-Pamudpod Period) The lack of other direct materials linking the Surat-Mangyan with their non-literary communication such as trade, contract, declaration or so only reinforces that the script was used mainly for ambahan expressions. The Hanunuo-Mangyans inscribed the ambahan in bamboo betel containers (lukas), in their bows & arrows, traditional musical instruments such as gitgit, etc. and woven on their baskets made of palm leaves, as well as in bamboo posts & walls and plants along the trail (Postma, 1971). It is instrumental in the 60% literacy of the Hanunuo- Mangyans for both adult men and women despite the lack of formal instruction (Conklin, 1949). The Surat-Mangyan is of an extreme value to understand the literate culture of the Hanunuo-Mangyan. We can just look at it in the bamboo material as a traditional literary expression and ponder of the wealth of its importance in the community life. The script serves as an integral part of their overall artistic and musical expressions. Figure-5 (Copyright MHC): Bamboo vessels with Surat-Mangyan in artistic design Since their society is essentially egalitarian, organized matrilocally without formal system & hierarchy of leadership (Conklin, 1949), self-expression in literature, poetry and music is a passion. In any community gathering, anyone can sing an ambahan to express a message and prompt a response in ambahan. Anyone can also wear decorative attire with fragrant leaves THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 23 (pamanglo). Anyone can design a sling bag or bamboo betel container with Surat-Mangyan inscription and decorative artistic lines. With this strong oral tradition and system of indigenous beliefs, people value the memoirs, wisdom and teaching of the elders (gurangon), the script facilitates the young man (kan-akan) to express his interest and serenade a girl (daraga) in beautiful rendition of ambahan singing. Their passion for courtship, the most exciting stage of a Mangyan life, reflect their passion for writing, reading & singing the ambahan in the bamboo literary process. Conklin has a beautiful account of this stage of singing the ambahan and writing it on the bamboo (1949, pp. 9-11). Because of this high level of bamboo literacy, poetic and literary education and mutual respect in their community, we can understand the Hanunuo-Mangyan love for serenity, harmony, beauty and sustainability. The culture of the Hanunuo-Mangyan is so enriched with literary expressions both oral and written that they have acquired a rich poetic imagination, philosophical consciousness and belief in spiritual transcendence (Pitogo, 2008). Through the preservation function of the Surat-Mangyan in bamboo literacy and oral tradition, the ambahan personification and metaphors of their life in the course of their experience and history. Life is beautiful (mayad) and strong (urog) from birth to after death. It is sufficient -- filled with goodness in the Hanunuo heart and soul (see Pitogo 2010). In fact, the Hanunuo-Mangyans have so much to teach us about how to live in harmony, respect and solidarity with one another. Hermeneutic study of the ambahan generates themes, meanings and insights useful for the formation of character and values. Symbol is important to our life. Indigenous myths, folktales, poems, songs, stories and prayers disclose insight and teaching of about life and society. A culture bearer must be familiar with these cultural expressions and forms in order to influence the construction of the worldview THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 24 and development of values of younger generation. In a phenomenology of their experience and culture, after an epoche of assumptions about them, secondary reflection leads to an in-depth understanding of their culture so that it brings me closer to their culture and it helps understand my being a Filipino. Just to highlight this fact, during the first Mangyan Summit held on November 24-26, 2014 and attended by over 500 leaders representing all eight Mangyan tribes in Calapan City, the Mangyan leaders adopted my discourse as articulation of their collective longings and aspirations about their fight for dignity and right to their ancestral land and selfdetermination (Pitogo, 2014). In hermeneutic anthropology, we cannot be but surprised and be transformed by the enriching message of the ambahan text in the bamboo script as an interpretative tool to understand and articulate the rich meaning of our culture. New Surat-Mangyan (Pamudpod Period) However, the Surat-Mangyan was not exclusively use to the ambahan. It can be used for contract, signature and correspondence. Hence, when Postma created the chart in 1986, it was easier for Hanunuo-Mangyans to adopt the script to non-literary writing & communication. Immediately, the Mangyans saw the benefit of the pamudpod-enhanced script for educating their young people. The support of the Department of Education (DepED) through its Mother TongueBased Multilingual Education Program provide an institutionalization support of the effort. The Surat-Mangyan, the ambahan and the Bagaw-Mangyan are incorporated in the implementation of the K to 12 program with the support of the cultural masters. Every year from 2013 to 2015, Mangyan cultural masters taught Surat-Mangyan & ambahan to more than 2,500 of Mangyan students of 10 elementary schools of Mansalay and Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro (Mangyan Heritage Center, 2014, 2015). Culturally this is important not only for social & civic studies but also in the preservation and development of the Mangyan heritage in their very education in THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 25 culture. It does not only provide continuity to the functional use and importance of the traditional Surat-Mangyan as a living script but it extends the use and influence of the script in all other facets of their lives. In school, the systematic adoption and teaching of the pamudpod-enhanced SuratMangyan has created a pride in their people and enhance an awareness to require deliberately the Mangyan students to be proficient in writing, reading and communicating through the script. In fact, the 2013 version of the Primer is practically written in Surat-Mangyan by Anya Postma representing the next generation of Mangyans. As a required booklet, the culture master in public elementary schools for the Hanunuo-Mangyan follows a curriculum for teaching the Surat-Mangyan tied to the ambahan and bamboo writing. This integral approach to teaching of the Surat-Mangyan, the ambahan, the bamboo, the reading, singing and explaining of the ambahan in arambahanan (ambahan singing) festivals form a major culture innovation in preserving the Mangyan ambahan, script and cultural values. Funded by the NCCA and other government and international agencies, the cooperation of the Mangyan communities, DepEd, the MHC, the Mangyan Mission of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan, the PHADAG, the parents & elders and the students themselves provide a model of cooperation centered on these tangible and intangible legacies nurtured for the love of our cultural heritage. Even with the adoption of the barangay local government system and the advent of formal association like a people’s organization in some communities, the Surat-Mangyan persists in its proper place in their society. The Surat-Mangyan traditionally reserved for cultural, religious and community expressions make its influence in the emerging formalization of community leadership, declarations and documentations. In fact, because of the Surat-Mangyan proficiency of the new breed of leaders who take pride of their culture and who work for the THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 26 recognition of their IP rights, the Surat-Mangyan gradually gains expression in their statements of ancestral land advocacy—not only among Hanunoo-Mangyans but also other Mangyan tribes. While the Latin alphabet and Filipino national language dominate the barangay system, local governance and in formal education, we cannot underestimate the influence of this indigenous script and culture in general in uniting the Hanunuo-Mangyan people in their IP struggle. In my mind, the power of the script, its literary and philosophical expressions, represent the unique way of their society using peaceful dialogue of issues important to their survival as an IP. Because the script and ambahan are so deeply embedded in their culture and belief, the HanunuoMangyan will not fight by force to assert their right. Rather, they will fight using their convictions and express their convictions in their cultural and script expressions. In the last 30 years of adopting the pamudpod-enhanced Surat-Mangyan system, its impact on their history, culture and development advocacy are yet to be assessed. Nevertheless, we see astonishing signs of assimilation, integration and innovation--consistent to their oral & script traditions but also feasible enough in responding to the larger contemporary society and globalization. With this positive development of the script integrated in their cultural consciousness, we see a strong evidence of their adaptability and ability to integrate the past and the present and come up with an effective tool for inter-generational sustainability. While the traditional Surat-Mangyan will still be maintained in its original bamboo material, we will see a growing advancement of the enhanced script in new forms and extensions. I will not be surprised to see in the future Mangyan textbooks, in digital or paper form, written in enhanced Surat-Mangyan. Moreover, the effort to adopt digital technologies has made headway in the direction of culture preservation and progress. It is important to recognize the work of Norman de los Santos, a Mindoreño based in the United States, in encoding the Mangyan script and other THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 27 baybayin scripts in the computer application. He was able to put the Surat-Mangyan system of writing for word computing (De los Santos, 2014). We can download the code and start using it in Microsoft or open office applications. With this development, we can expect to have an android or basic cellphone application to use of the script for text messaging. Value in Mangyan Anthropology, Philosophy & Sustainability We can regard the written ambahan on bamboo as a pre-Hispanic text disclosing many things about us as Filipinos of the Malayo-Polynesian language culture civilization. As a text, it takes the form of a world of text filled with immediate and underlying meanings so rich that it engages a reader to its metaphoric power. In my experience, just uploading some ambahans in the academia website generated more than 7,000 readers (Pitogo, 2012). We might wonder the above the attractive power of the ambahan verses in symbolizing human experience and situations across many cultures. We cannot belittle the power of text in revealing universal human experience and explain the human situation. For example, we can just say this deep filial endearment of a man whose childhood was filled with parental love as an exclusive Mangyan experience (Pitogo, 2008, p.4): Ambahan 27 Childhood Memory Filipino Translation Kan suyong mag-iginan Kan bansay mag-iday-an Salag ud way suligan Linsing nawa di way man Tabog babaw aghuman Pagyabaton bansayan Una diman liyuhan Salag unman katim-an Katpong bay inda ginan Salagan masulig wan Salag nandamgo yi man Kan bansay liyo duyan Kan suyong pangagwadan Hagan una lagwinan Mother nursing me so sweet Father coddling me so dear I was too small to feel I was too young to deal Bringing me to his green farm So safe in my Father’s arm Hardly speaking I couldn’t dare I was a baby so little Many years passed since childhood Grown I am almost a man A son who now understands My Father’s assuring word My Mother’s loving counsel To the distant far I travel Kinakalong ni Nanay Kinakandong ni Tatay Sadya pang kamusmusan Tunay akong paslit lang Hangang sa kaingin man ‘Sinasama ni Tatay Kahit pa utal-utal Sanggol na walang muwang Ngunit nang magka-minsan Lumaki’t magkagulang Akin namang nalaman Kay Tatay, kawikaan Kay Nanay, kasabihan Malayo mang lakaran THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN Padpad una mayanyan No sigin yi sag manman Halaw unman mi-aynan Reaching the edge of my journey Should I meet a stormy test No home will I have, but them! 28 Saan man ang abutan Kung kasam-an ang datnan Sila lang ang uwian! Going back to text in considering its hermeneutic value for philosophical thinking, we must uphold the extreme value of adoption and preservation of indigenous script in our society. Cooper provided four plausible reasons for a people to seek an indigenous script: Desire to protect their identity, desire for secrecy, desire to resist foreign domination and the fear of culture innovation (1991). He noted that the scripts have supernatural attribution that helps legitimate an innovation. Literacy through scripts exert power over others. Legitimizing myth (divine attribution) is accompanied by an invention of writing. Cooper claims that the supernatural origin of writing and writing systems help legitimate the worldly authority that these systems represent. In this regard, the power of the medium of God through divine revelation or inspiration in dreams, visions, or prayers provides a way for maintaining tradition and introducing innovation. In the Mangyan world, the respect for the balyanan or pandaniwan (the spirit medium) goes beyond his ability to call the helper spirit (daniw) to cure the sick. Rather, their possession of immense knowledge of their animal, plant, spiritual and philosophical worlds serve as symbols in a number of ambahans about deaths -- from no. 246 to 261 (Pitogo, 2010, pp.218-241). It is not surprising to see that the pandaniwans /balyanans are also the most respected bearers of Mangyan beliefs, their ambahan and the Mangyan script. To me they are the best interpreters of the Mangyan literary texts and symbols. We may ask, what contributed to the sustainability the Mangyan syllabic script with the ambahan text, speech and symbols? I guess it was not much about the Hanunuo-Mangyan’s fear of forgetting their ambahan, or giving up to the ways of the lowlanders (damuong). Rather, there is so much wealth in the THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 29 Hanunuo-Mangyan’s intangible domain of their culture that is so archetypal and paradigmatic that they are not willing to give up their soul in exchange for the benefits provided by the more dominant culture of the lowland. To them, it would mean giving up their identity – their heart as a people and their ancestral source. In examining the ambahan root metaphors, I discovered that in the polarities of life as ayad/urog vs. daot/lut-an, theirs is a faith in the indestructible ayad/urog described as linyaw and linong versus any forms of daut/lut-an. All of these could be interpreted in the root metaphors tatag-rupok-punyagi (Pitogo, 1992, 2009, 2010). The ambahan in Surat-Mangyan provides a sustainable worldview anchored on the cooperation of plants, animals, humans and spirits in their world older. It is most likely that the Mangyans see themselves as a participant of the life shared by all—in kasarinlan, lupa, kultura and pagkakilanlan. Since they are the author, user, preserver and teacher of the ambahan and its script, the preservation of the ambahan, the script and all other oral literature also preserves their eco-centric worldview and value for sustainability. Since symbols and metaphors have the capacity to express the emotive, poetic and metaphysical realities (expressed in the tagalog word unawa, dama & loob) beyond what descriptive or scientific language can do, they can reveal the supernatural value of human life. For this reason, the ambahan preserved in script has kept the Hanunuo-Mangyan in contact with his inner soul, his ancestors and his values and concept of development. I think all other written expressions of the Mangyans are guided by the ambahan-suratugali symbolic unity. This means that the Hanunuo-Mangyan anthropology is essentially enlightening and inspiring to our current search for solutions to many problems of our dysfunctional society. In humility, we must not insist that our scientific, technological, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 30 historical and anthropological body of knowledge are far superior that Mangyan philosophy of life and society. How did this happen in many generations? How did the Mangyans sustain this with the support of the ambahan and Surat-Mangyan? Well the answer can also be found in their culture and excellent bamboo literary. Since the traditional Surat-Mangyan has limitations with regard to end consonant, they will have to rely on their intangible conviction & abilities. Familiarity and memory will have to supply for such limitation. The ambahan writing therefore will have to follow a memory-loading and metaphoric expression process. I shall call this process as Ambahan Inscription Process: Memorize Hear Inscribe Ambahan (Imagined, Felt, Understood) Collect Read Most often, a young Mangyan hears an ambahan, either in feasts (ponsiyon), courtships (panlayisan) or any communal activities. After hearing regularly/repetitively, the Mangyan memorizes what he/she hears. In order not to forget the ambahan, he/she will ask an older THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 31 person (laki, bayi, bapa) how to inscribe it. By trial and repetition, he/she learns to write the ambahan. By memory/ familiarity, he/she is able to read the ambahan. By following the process, he/she is able to acquire more ambahan pieces by memory and by inscription. For years, the Mangyan expands his/her knowledge of the ambahan, becomes familiar with the standard metaphors and syllables, and progresses in writing proficiency. This process complements the limitation of the Mangyan writing system and the short life span of the bamboo material but effectively sustained the intangible wealth useful for their anthropology, philosophy and social development. As Mangyan gets older, he/she continues to memorize, write, read and collect, and sing various ambahans. In at least 30 years, he/she must have built a sizable “body of knowledge” in two levels: (1) The immediate meaning of the ambahan text supported by memory & script and familiarity with the metaphors and use of the ambahan and (2) the metaphysical meaning, often unarticulated but expressed in metaphorical significations. This probably explains why by the age 60, a Mangyan elder (gurangon) could already be considered a man of wisdom and insight. In my view, a respected culture master is a hero in the perpetuation of the Hanunuo tangible and intangible heritage. Postma relied on highly respected culture masters to be able to collect by audio more than 20,000 ambahans in his 30-year period of collection, not to include suyot, urukay, adahiyo, and others. They included Alpog, Ganiw, Umbos, and all other Mangyan poets who are sages, heroes and teachers of Mangyan culture. The Mangyan poet-heroes die, but the effect of writing through script sustained the meaning, knowledge and teaching to next generation. In writing, the ambahan speech event is separated from the ambahan text. The text acquires a world of its own apart from the intended meaning of the poet/ author/hearer of the ambahan. The ambahan as text is stored calling the THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 32 community to decipher / decode the script when necessary. This separation creates a textual autonomy of the ambahan that makes it available to anyone. The ambahan as in the Mangyan syllabic script acquires a certain universality capable of disclosing and interpreting a human situation. The ambahan in Surat-Mangyan becomes a hermeneutical piece, removed from the specific social event, and it acquires a thematic generality that may be applied by anyone in sensing and defining a reality. This happens because the ambahan is in the form of literary symbol (through personification and metaphors) capable of resembling a specific experience or felt situation and expressing it in metaphors. In this way, the Mangyan speakers and hearers see themselves in front of the ambahan as bamboo text developing a self-consciousness that everyone shares in the collective sensing of the community. In ambahan singing events, the community, in which the speaker and the hearer belong serve as actors and sharers of consciousness, adopt the ambahan vision, worldview and feeling in both the surface level and underlying level of significations. In the process, the ambahan as metaphoric event is capable of predicating and creating new insights (see Ricoeur, 1978). Through symbols, philosophical meanings are disclosed. In metaphors, we see a dialectic of literal and archetypal meanings disclosing a surplus of significations that perceived by any reader (see Ricoeur, 1976). In any occasions, when the text is read and sung, the ambahan chanters and listeners are engaged in the dialectics the resemblance and the differentiation of meaning. The ambahan as text and as utterance serves to be a literary event that reflects the human experience shared by the community and at the same time evokes insights about underlying reality. The ambahan as an uttered social event happening in the structure of metaphoric process, encoded as bamboo text through the Surat-Mangyan, draws people to itself and captures to heart of its hearers. Together it creates a social bond of THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 33 immediate and remote meanings, in both their concreteness and ambiguities, in their commonsensical and philosophical meanings, in their human and divine meanings. In this approach, the recognition of the Surat-Mangyan as instrumental to the development and preservation of ambahan as text points to role of the script as a philosophical code to the ambahan thinking and its symbolic capacity to disclose the unknown. With the integration of the script, the ambahan, the philosophical view into the social event participated by the culture bearers, they engage and surrender to the poetic imagination, feeling and understanding evoked by the ambahan as text and as event. This hermeneutic approach to ambahan holds the community to an interpretative bond and discovery about the essential fact of their communal life in dialogue with the spirit. Meanings and insights reveal by the ambahan symbols and metaphors lead the culture bearers and participants into a higher plane of philosophical existence and spiritual belief. This defines their constitution of their society, their relationship and action oriented towards a sense of the divine. The scripts are no longer just scripts and artistic expressions but a symbol of their sense about the presence of the divine in their life as a people. Conclusion The Surat-Mangyan and the ambahan form an integrated piece, representing a metaphoric expression of the Hanunuo poetic genius and literary richness. Together, the ambahan and Surat-Mangyan form an inseparable national legacy that gives us a reflection of the wealth of Filipino pre-Hispanic consciousness, indigenous literature, poetry and philosophy, heritage. We owe this to the Mangyan culture masters (elders and poets), who labored to scribe the ambahan in bamboo pieces. Today, through this scripted literary piece, we can understand THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 34 ourselves better and offer something better than our globally oriented dysfunctional society. To live this script and literary treasure (the tangible cultural heritage), we cannot but rediscover our sense and value for eco-human serenity, wellbeing and respect for everything (the intangible cultural heritage). This is how we should see the value of Surat-Mangyan in using national heritage for the formation of a distinctly Filipino consciousness. More than a legacy of the Mangyans to our national baybayin advocacy, the ambahan provides many benefits to us, to their society and to the human society in general. While not preserved in metal plates but in bamboo & wooden slabs of less archeological perpetuity, Surat-Mangyan as a living baybayin script embedded in their eco-centric consciousness and traditions, happily performs its part in the national preservation and appreciation of this cultural heritage. Its unique function of perpetrating their indigenous expression and philosophical worldview surviving through centuries of colonization, will remain not only a treasure but a living wellspring to refresh out soul and to drink the water that will gives us back our lost spirit. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURAT MANGYAN 35 References Beyer, H. O. (1921). The non-Christian people of the Philippines. Manila: Bureau of Printing. Catapang, E.L. (2014). Reviving the Hanunuo and Buhid Mangyan Syllabic Scripts of the Philippines. Calapan City: Mangyan Heritage Center, Inc. Conklin, H.C. (1949). Bamboo Literacy in Mindoro, Pacific Discovery. Vol 11, No.4, pp.4-11 Conklin, H.C. (1955). 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