Kulitan, a reminder that Kapampangan is our mother tongue in Pampanga

By Joelyn G. Baluyut

Monday 2nd of July 2012

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga, July 2 (PIA) -- A book on Kapampangan script or “Kulitan” has recently been launched in Angeles City Pampanga.

The book, entitled, “An Introduction to Kulitan: The Indigenous Kapampangan Script,” was written by a Kapampangan scholar Michael Raymon Pangilinan.

“Kulitan is a reminder that Kapampangan was, is, and will always be, our mother tongue (in Pampanga),” said Center for Kapampangan Studies (CKS) of Holy Angel University (HAU) director Robby Tantingco during the launch of the book on Kapampangan script or “Kulitan,” which is one of the various indigenous writing scripts in the Philippines.

Pangilinan is known as the “Siuala ding Meangubie (voice of the departed),” a historian and cultural activist who promoted Kapampangan and culture.

“Although kulitan is no longer our writing system today, it is still our obligation to keep it alive, not just for heritage conservation’s sake, but also to keep our direct line to our distant ancestors unbroken,” Tantingco explained.

Moreover, Tantingco added “we who are debating today over which one is the original, genuine Kapampangan (Kapampangan with a “k” or Kapampangan with a “c”), well, the answer is, none of the above. The original is kulitan. The Spaniards only replaced it with the Western writing system using “c.” After the Spaniards left, Kapampangan nationalists like Aurelio Tolentino and Zoilo Hilario replaced “c” with “k.” So it was first, kulitan, then “c,” then “k.”

Tantingco is then hopeful that “the book will be used to get ourselves reacquainted with our unique writing system. Actually, kulitan never disappeared, it may have been under the radar of our consciousness, but it has always run parallel to Kapampangan with a “c” and Kapampangan with a “k.”

“Kulitan is our past and could still be our future language. If Filipino is really and eventually going to kill our Kapampangan with a “c” and our Kapampangan with a “k,” maybe then we will turn to kulitan as our last refuge.“

Kulitan is the Kapampangan version of the Tagalog “baybayin,” where both are related to other scripts in Southeast Asia where characters are written vertically and where consonants possess the default vowel /a/ which can be converted into a different vowel by placing diacritical marks above, below or beside the consonant. (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)