Heated debate surrounds origin of recently found stone

An international debate has erupted over a stone slab recently found in Masbate engraved with ancient Tagalog writing after some overseas experts suggested that it may not be more than a century old. Local scholars have criticized as premature theories regarding the authenticity or antiquity of the so-called "Rizal Stone," saying it is too early to tell if the baybayin inscriptions are of modern or pre-colonial origins. Issues surrounding the symbols on the stone found in Masbate can only be resolved "by undertaking a definitive transcription of the inscriptions," said Dr. Franciscio Datar of the UP Anthropology Department in an emailed statement reacting to dismissals by others of the significance of the stone tablet. He added that "long-distance speculations" by other experts are not helping determine the historical nature or relevance of the stone.

US-based Christian Cabuay and Canadian Paul Morrow, two baybayin experts who have studied and written about the ancient script, earlier noted that the absence of kudlits—diacritical marks used to indicate appropriate vowels to be used—is a tell-tale sign that the inscriptions were of modern creation. They also said that the absence of separators, such as vertical lines indicating breaks between sentences, was suspicious. Both scholars have seen only photographs of the stone, and not the actual artifact itself. In a Facebook post, Morrow retorted: "I would like to know whom they will consult in the Philippines. I hope it is someone who has the depth of knowledge of, say, Antoon Postma who lives in Mindoro." Poostma, a Dutch national who has been living with the Mangyans of Mindoro for decades and has studied their own pre-colonial writing, was responsible for translating the centuries-old Laguna Copperplate inscription in 1990. That artifact, condoning the debt of the original bearer more than a millennium ago, is now considered the country's earliest legal document. 'Knee-jerk conclusions' Cabuay clarified that nobody is passing judgment on the "Rizal Stone" yet. "A few of us (in the Baybayin community) want it to be real (pre-colonial). It's okay for a professor to speculate that it could be pre-colonial, but we cannot speculate the opposite?" he asked in a blog post. Arnold M. Azurin, an affiliate scholar at UP Diliman's Archaeology Studies Program, meanwhile said that the experts' early comments are too "reductionist and rash." "It is too presumptuous to regard the kudlit-studded style of baybayin syllabary as the only authentic way. It oversimplifies the need or presence of such markings," Azurin told GMA News Online via Facebook. He pointed out that some Mangyans knowledgeable in baybayin use dashes or underscoring etches, the group's variant of inscribing which they have innovated over time. "It is like using the Roman alphabet. One may inscribe it slanting or upright, all caps or lower case, or mixed with texting symbols," he said. Azurin went on to say that "knee-jerk conclusions... reek of arrogance to presume that there's only one way of writing the baybayin." "It's a non-sequitur (it doesn't follow)," he added. "At this point, I myself cannot come to a fool-proof assertion that the artifact is a genuine piece of antiquity." Need for further studies Azurin, also a senior fellow at the Asia Public Intellectual Program, reiterated that the stone could lead to further understanding of pre-colonial Philippines, and should be studied carefully. "It's definitely something [worth] analyzing—with rigor—not with a knee jerk," he stressed. He said that one of the key factors that could determine the stone's antiquity is the message on the stone itself. "If we can decode it and it would appear to convey that Lapu-Lapu was buried beneath it, that would be a good lead as to its historic significance or provenance," he said. "But if it says something like MacArthur landed on nearby islands, then we know its timeline." He said that should the inscriptions point to distant dominions surrounding the Philippines such as Champa, Cambodia and Yogyakarta, then it could lead to discoveries about the cultural connections of some Visayas islands to these ancient empires, part of Azurin's ongoing research on Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms near the country. "If the artifact turns out to be of ancient [origins] or if the message harkens to distant cities ruled by Hindu-Buddhist chiefs, then we will have something to prod us to research more this archipelago's deep-set culture and trade ties with [these emporiums]," he added. UP's Datar, meanwhile, echoed Azurin's sentiments. "We cannot overemphasize the need for situating the find within its specific social and cultural context," he said, urging scholars and other interested parties to help in analyzing the stone further. - HS, GMA News