About this product

"Abakada" typically refers to the traditional Filipino alphabet used before the adoption of the modern Filipino alphabet, which is based on the Latin script. The term "Abakada" is derived from the first four letters of this old Filipino alphabet. This system was used during the early 20th century and was eventually replaced by the modern alphabet.

The original Abakada alphabet, created by Lope K. Santos in 1940, consisted of 20 letters:

A
B
K
D
E
G
H
I
L
M
N
NG
O
P
R
S
T
U
W
Y
This system had fewer letters than the modern Filipino alphabet, which is based on the standard Latin script and includes the following 28 letters:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
Ñ
NG
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
The adoption of the modern Filipino alphabet was part of the language reforms in the Philippines, aiming to align the writing system more closely with the phonetic structure of the Filipino language.