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On February 14, 2024, Team Amanu, composed of fourth-year Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) students from Holy Angel University launched two innovative Kulitan applications at the Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies (HAU-CKS). The team, consisting of Winston Adam Lejarde, Erl Joshua Vergara, Angelica Marie Tanglao, and Arianne Dayle Yandan, embarked on this initiative to preserve and promote the Kapampangan language through the use of the Kulitan writing system.

Kulitan, also known as súlat Kapampángan and pamagkulit, was traditionally utilized for writing Kapampangan until it was replaced by the Latin alphabet. Unlike Baybayin, Kulitan is distinctive for its top-to-bottom, right-to-left writing direction, resembling Japanese Kanji and Chinese Hanzi characters. This directional writing symbolizes the sun’s journey from east to west.

The launch event which was open to the public, was held at 3:30 PM, introduced Kulit Pad and Kulitan Reader. Kulit Pad enables users to type in Kulitan typography or the Kulitan Keyboard, facilitating the composition of Kapampangan words in Kulitan form. It features customizable Kulitan symbols and texts, along with options for sharing Kulitan cards on various social media platforms. Meanwhile, Kulitan Reader utilizes machine learning to transcribe Kulitan text into the Latin alphabet, enhancing accuracy and accessibility.

Team Amanu’s journey began as a thesis project but evolved into a passion project aimed at combatting the gradual decline of the Kapampangan language. Winston Adam Lejarde expressed the team’s motivation, stating, “We realized that the language is gradually fading away since most of our current generation’s, Gen-Zs, primary language is either English or Tagalog/Filipino. This is our way of helping preserve the language or ‘Amanung Siswan’ for future generations.”

News by: Sofia Anne Sarmiento