Antoon Postma is a Dutch anthropologist who has married into and lives among the Hanunó'o, a Mangyan

Mangyan

Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found in the Philippine island of Mindoro, each with its own tribal name, language, and customs...

 sub-tribe in Mindoro

Mindoro

Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.-History:...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. He is best known for being the first to decipher the Laguna Copperplate Inscription

Laguna Copperplate Inscription

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the earliest known written document found in the Philippines. The plate was found in 1989 by a sand laborer working on Lumbang River near the outlet to Laguna de Bay, in Barangay Wawa, Lumban, in the Laguna province.The inscription on the plate was first...

, and for documenting the Hanunó'o script

Hanunó'o script

Hanunó’o is one of the indigenous scripts of the Philippines and is used by the Mangyan people of southern Mindoro to write the Hanunó’o language. It is an abugida descended from the Indic scripts, closely related to Baybayin, and is famous for being written vertical but written upward, rather than...

, paving the way for its preservation. he was invited in several talks all over the Philippines, one of which is his talk to the University of San Carlos at the Buttenburch Auditorium attended by several students including the Explorers Club last 2008 attended by Jeffrey "Ken" Ecarma

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