The Cuyonon is a dying language. Sure! That was the trend about two years ago. But not anymore. Today, Cuyonon Kita has 38,481 members and growing. Less than two years after I created it with a few friends, Cuyonon Kita has found its niche under the sun. A large number of its members say NO TO THE BASTARDIZATION OF THE CUYONON LANGUAGE by rejecting the Cuyonon Orthography authored by Elphick and Sohn. The Cuyonos were surprised and angry to learn that letters C, U and soft E (as in EGG) have been deleted from the Cuyonon Orthography by the researchers. Letter Y that is used as an article, is replaced with I. Says who? That's the question of many Cuyonos who found out that the Cuyonon Orthography authored by Elphick and Sohn have done it. According to some articles posted on Facebook, Elphick and Sohn did the Cuyonon Orthography in 2009 fully funded by their own families. While their clan are so proud of what they did, the Cuyonon communities are not amused. After all, who gave them the authority to delete the letters C, U, soft E and Y in our Cuyonon language? This research was presented to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last year. Reports that reached me said that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members weren't amused. After all, a lot of them are Cuyonos --- full blooded Cuyonos who know our language, culture and traditions. To be told that the Cuyonon alphabet only got 19 letters with 1 glottal stop; four vowels a, e, i and o was met with a strong opposition. So the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed the Provincial Ordinance 1795, S. 2017, adopting "Ang Alpabeto Y Ang Cuyonon." Take note: all the stuff that Elphick and Sohn have deleted are in place. For instance, the authors claim that there is no soft E. But the Provincial Ordinance spells it as ALPABETO, not ALPABITO. Second, the letter C and U are all found in Cuyonon. Lastly, the article Y (of) is used; not the letter I as in India that the researchers are in favor of. Using the letter Y is a unique feature of the Cuyonon culture. One of the family members of the researcher is now questioning the basis of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for passing this Ordinance. After all, the 19 letter alphabet of Elphick and Sohn with four vowels were ignored in favor of the 28 letters of the alphabet with five vowels that is also being used by the Department of Education (DepEd). The supporters of these researchers are moving heaven and earth to have this Ordinance replaced. They're also allegedly worming their way into the DepEd so their version of Cuyonon Orthography would be taught to school children in Palawan. After all, they say that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan only declared it as a Provincial Dialect, while the researchers claim that it's a Provincial Language. Whether it's a dialect or a language is not an issue. The main bone of contention is why did they remove letters C, U, soft E and Y in the Cuyonon Orthography without the knowledge of the majority of the Cuyonos? Now, let's go to the question of the century: How did the researchers get away with the deletion of these letters? They said that there's a public hearing. How come the Provincial Government only became aware of it in April 2017? Where is the participation of the DepEd in this research? You mean the presence of some teachers with Ph.D. are enough? What about the Phil. Constitution 1987 Section 17 Art XIV; the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (R. A. 8371 Sec 16) and the NCIP Administrative Order No. 001 Series of 2009 that protect the rights of the Indigenous People? They need a huge public hearing with social acceptability before they could delete any letter from the Cuyonon Orthography. Come to think of it: Have you ever heard of any country in the world that deleted not just one but four letters in their alphabet? During the Final Validation of the Cuyonon Orthography in Magsaysay in August 2017, the elderly folks and Tribal Chieftains made it plain that the letters C, U, soft E and Y are all part of the Cuyonon alphabet. Those are based from the traditional way of writing of the Cuyonos all the way from the Spanish period. Nay, the letters U and soft E existed even during the time of Datu Magbanua (read BORNEO). The Sangguniang Panlalawigan do not agree with the Elphick and Sohn version of the Cuyonon Orthography, and the elderly folks and native speakers didn't either, so on what authority did they base their removal of these letters from the Cuyonon alphabet? A Cuyonon Advisory panel was created but it's interesting to note that one half of the members are close relatives of one of the researchers; two of them belong to the same church; One member was a Cebuana. What is she doing in a research on Cuyonon Orthography when she doesn't even speak straight Cuyonon? A member of the Clergy was represented; two have doctoral degrees from Palawan State University and two more from the DepEd. It is interesting to note that in spite of the credentials of this panel, none of them ever made a whimper as to why those letters are removed from Cuyonon Orthography. This Cuyonon Orthography needs to answer more questions than before. I hope that the right people would come forward to provide us with the best possible answer that they could come up with. Cuyonos all over the world, we need your help! Please sign this petition not to allow the Elphick and Sohn Cuyonon Orthography to be taught in various schools in Palawan. To those who have signed already, thank you very much. May God bless us all!