The Greek in Philemon 1:19 that is translated in English as “I say nothing about your owing me even your own self” or similar is translated in Kinaray-A as “I will not mention your debt to me, because wasn’t it because of me that you obtained life without end?” The rhetorical question is used to soften the impact of the reminder that the person has an eternal debt (utang) to the writer. A person with such a debt is forever obligated to his benefactor almost as a slave to his master. So, a straightforward assertion would be a crude reminder to the debtor of his lowered status as being practically a slave to the writer. This might cause the person to feel he was being deliberately put to shame and thus caused to lose face. So, to avoid that, the writer softens the reminder with a rhetorical question. (Source: Balbina Abadiano in Notes on Translation 1988, p. 40ff.)