Alif-ba-ta and abecedario After foreigners arrived here in the Philippines like the Spaniards, the native Filipinos had their own alphabet and spelling system known as "alibata" or alif-ba-ta in Arabic. The older alphabet of the native is syllabic and consists of three vowels and fourteen consonants (consonants). The vowel has a, e, and i, while o and u have only one sound that is very confusing. Each consonant is read with a vowel a, when it has no mark above or below the "call," or type of mark used in older writing systems. When it is underlined, the vowel a, is substituted by the vowel or otherwise u. But if the penalties rise, the vowel becomes e or i.s. As the Spanish conquerors conquered the Philippines, they were forced to change the culture of the indigenous Filipinos. Spanish abolished pagan attitudes of indigenous peoples, including the changing system of writing, reading and words of them. The Spaniards introduced their own version of the alibata, the abecedario or the Spanish alphabet