25 August 2020, Dubai, U.A.E. – The Consulate General of the Philippines in Dubai and Northern Emirates organized a 2-hour webinar on Kasaysayan ng Wikang Pasulat on 24 August 2020 to launch the Consulate’s Baybayin Series, a program aimed to promote Philippine culture and heritage in the UAE thorough conduct of lectures, dialogues, and webinars and, at the same time, to celebrate the Philippines’ Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa at Kasaysayan or the National Month of Language and History.

The maiden program for the Series was a lecture by Mr. Jay Enage, Founding Chairman of Baybayin Buhayin, on the Philippines’ ancient form of writing known as the “Baybayin.” Mr. Enage emphasized that understanding our indigenous form of writing is integral and important in appreciating our history and our collective identity and culture as Filipinos. It is an essential link  that reconnects and binds us to our roots. 

Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes encouraged the young people who participated in the webinar to continue learning Baybayin if they wish to discover more about the culture of the Filipino people.  He emphasized that Baybayin is a concrete testament that the Philippines already has its own culture prior the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. 

Around 60 Filipino students and teachers from the Philippne school in Dubai and Northern Emirates participated in the webinar. END