Internet users called out what appeared as incorrect use of Baybayin characters in the street signs within the University of Santo Tomas campus in España Boulevard, Manila.
The Flame, the official student publication of UST’s Faculty of Art and Letters, posted photos of the newly installed signages in the corners of the campus.
However, many netizens pointed out that the supposed Baybayin translation of the campus roads was done letter by letter.
Baybayin is a Philippine script that consists of 17 letters — three vowels and 14 consonants. Each consonant comes with a vowel.
The Flame later reported that the street signs were removed as they were only “prototypes” and were only installed to see how they would look in posts.
But UST Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan, who helped in the Baybayin translations, was quoted in the report saying that she told the university’s Facilities Management Office (FMO) that Baybayin is not supposed to be spelled out by letters.
GMA News Online has reached out to Turingan and the FMO for further statements.
Mathematicians from the University of the Philippines recently developed an AI-powered system that can translate the Baybayin writing system into Latin-character or understandable text.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
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