Luzon: Genres of Urban Writing

Luzon is considered as the most populous island in the Philippines with the population of 48,520,774 in
the year 2010 according to National Statistics Offices (NSO) and almost half of the ethnic groups are
found in Luzon with the percentage of 48%. The major languages of these ethnic groups are Tagalog,
Ilocano, Kaapampangan, Bicolano, and Pangasinense.

It is not that surprising that many or most of the Filipino people choose to live in Luzon as it is
the focus of trade and industry and considered to be a political center of the country because of Metro
Manila. And to address the needs for education of Luzon, the most number of schools, institutions and
universities are found here, making it the highlight of literacy in the country. However, there must be a
further improvement of new technologies such as internet to fully address this situation.

One of the biggest technological advancements of the twentieth century is the invention of
Internet which connects the people from different parts of our archipelago in many ways like social
media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram not only for entertainment but also for social
awareness. In these way, writers from other region able to experiment with other forms for expressing
their literary skills. Examples of these are the web log or the blog, online novels, and the famous mobile
phone text tula , pioneered by Frank Rivera.

As of 2014 the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) recorded
that there are 38 million Internet users in the Philippines of estimated 100 million Filipinos in 2015.
Another important feature of IMMAPs report is that two-thirds of Filipino Internet users are below 30
years old. After all, functional internet literacy is a necessary skill today especially for the millennials
who should be able to compere intellectually with people of other nation. Hopefully, the citizen of the
Philippines should be responsible and discipline enough in using Internet.
 Mindanaos Literature of Conflict (Filipino Muslim Literature)

The Mindanao has its hidden literature that everybody doesnt know. Their literature is a diverse
culture which displays the features and culture of the Muslim people in the Philippines. Mindanao has
thirty-three ethno-linguistic groups, which thirteen of them are Islamized; nineteen are Lumads and
third and fourth are Christian settlers. It was then the Americans colonize the region, and the lands of
the Lumads and Muslims have been taken by the colonialist, so they had lost a large area of their
ancestral lands. The land ownership comes from Muslim is Tawhid which means oneness or unity.

Literature in Mindanao especially the folk literature in cultural communities as in other Filipino
groups follow the oral tradition in that folktales, myths, legends, epics, poems, riddles and proverbs are
handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. The epic Blue Blood of the Big Astana,
of Ibrahim A. Jubair, is a story which there is a twist of romance and history. It also demonstrates the
severe transformation that occurred when the Americans started to combine the colony under their
governance. Both the parents and the husband of the princess, who Jafaar refers to us Dayang-Dayang
meaning noblewoman are dispossessed of land that has been theirs ever since Sulu had established
itself as a sultanate an autonomous state. The story reflects the life of the Muslims, which experienced
lost of lands because the Americans and the Government ushered a number of foreign business that
includes illegal mining and illegal logging which altered the regions landscape. Other than this, there are
many more literary forms from the different places in Mindanao. One of it is Prince Batugan, from
Maranao, is an epic story told in the great oral tradition of the Maranao tribe. It is a story about the
great Prince Bantugan, the greatest warrior of the kingdom of Bantugan. Other epics are; in
Maguindanao, Indarapatra at Solayman; and the Tausug, Parang Sabil hi Abdulla iban hi Isara, The
Flood Story , THEY SAY FILIPINA IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MAID,ANY WOMAN SPEAKS,DEAD STARS ,
and Disquisition .

It is said that the cultural products of Mindanao are fast vanishing and the people themselves are
not aware of this. Literary preservation and development have seemingly taken the back seat. Maybe
because people are seemingly preoccupy to the considerations such as politics and economics. While
this is more important, the Filipino Muslim cultural communities must realize the significance of their
literature in their lives in that it helps preserve the richness and uniqueness of their respective cultural
identities.
 Visayas: Hybrid Modes in local color

One of the longest known epics in the world is the ethno-epic Hinilawod of the ancient people of sulod
in Central Panay, the only epic record in the Visayas. Recorded in the 1950s by anthropologist F. Landa
Jocano who hails from the province of IloIlo, HINILAWOD is more than 53,000 lines long and takes thirty
hours to recite. Segments of the epic have been adapted at festival (the Hirinugyaw Suguidanonay in
Calinog, Central Panay).

During the Spanish colonial period when natives were indigenizing the pasyon and koridolcorrido
(metrical romances), Spanish and native aspiring writers were also looking to the available literary
models at that time.

The first literary works in Visayas, the immensely popular Lagda sa pagca maligdon sa tauong
Bisaya (1734) and another Cebuano work, Fr. Blas Cavada de Castros Ang Suga nga Magadan-ag sa
napayupo sa Cangingitan sa Sala (1879), combine into one books several
dialogues,maxims,tales,meditation,and ajemplos (pananglitan).

A new set of economic and social conditions prepared the ground not just for the revolution at
the end of the century Spanish rule 19th but also the rise of the vernacular writing in the Visayas.
Relative prosperity in Iloilo, Negros, and Cebu Where large haciendas grew export crops like sugar
helped create a middle class who could send to Manila or Abroad to Study.

Philippines only changing colonial master rather than gaining long terms independence, the liberal
atmosphere that Filipino-led movement helped create led to the burst of provincial journalism and
native language writing. It also helped that the Spanish language was already losing favor, and the
English language had not yet taken root at this time of early American colonial period.

The golden age of vernacular literature in the 20th Century would not have been possible without
the rise of provincial journalism.

Before the turns of century, the dominance and pro-Spanish periodical was already being
eclipsed by native language paper El Porvenir de Visaya (1884-1989) of Iloilo and El Bolitin de Cebu. The
creation of the native language periodicals continued., in Cebu, Iloilo. Serialized fiction that dramatized
popular sentiments become such a hit especially in 1930s that periodical heavily dependent on them for
sales.

The first Visayan Novel, Hiligaynon Angel M. Magahums Benjamin (1907), was one such hybrid
that combined the Spanish-era ex emplum (novel of manners) and the modern chronicle (short
historical account).

Nicolas Rafols in his Novel Ang Puluhan ( 1919) attempted to present a semi-fictionalized chronicle
of actual events in Cebu, the abuses of the Philippine Constabulary.