Following the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), a fascinating writing system called Eskaya emerged in the Central Visayas, specifically in the province of Bohol, Philippines, used for the representation of the Visayan (Cebuano) language of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily, of the Austronesian family.

The Eskaya Alphasyllabary, among many theories, is believed to have been recovered and revealed to Mariano Dahatan (c. 1845– February 26, 1950) in the 1920s. The authorship is originally attributed to “Papa Pinay“, known as the first pope of the Philippines, where the script was gaining popularity throughout the country and its surroundings after being “rediscovered“ by agricultural advisors visiting the village of Taytay, Bohol in 1980. The system is considered so unusual and particular that it became of interest to many journalists and anthropologists in Asia and Oceania, being appreciated as an index of an uncorrupted civilization free from foreign influence despite the successive inquisitorial occupations throughout Philippine history.

Currently, as it is not part of the Unicode Standard, this prevents users from accessing this alphabet in digital environments to date. As part of The Missing Scripts program, this research project aims to preserve the cultural and linguistic heritage of its community, and proliferate the learning process of this alphabet, thus allowing this writing system to be accessible on contemporary digital platforms and devices.