The Regional Literary Forms of the Philippines

Region 1 :
1. Ilocos Norte 2. Ilocos Sur 3.La Union 4.Pangasinan

Literary Forms :
1.Burbutia 2. Pagsasao 3. Arikenken 4.Dalot 5. Daniw 6. Dung-aw 7. Sudario

Famous Writers associated with Region 1 :

1.Manuel Arguilla (Bauang, La Union) 2. Leona Florentino ( Vigan, Ilocos Sur) 3. Pacita
Saludes (Pangasinan) 4. Francisco Sionil Jose (Pangasinan)

Region 2:
1.Batanes 2.Cagayan 3.Isabela 4.Nueva Vizcaya 5. Quirino

Literary Forms:
1.Baliwayway 2.Dimolat 3.Laji 4.Unoni

CAR (Cordillera Autonomous Region)

1.Abra 2.Apayao 3.Benguet 4. Ifugao 5. Kalinga-Apayao 6. Mountain Province

Literary Forms:
1.Ibaloy origins 2.Isneg riddles 3.Tingguian flood myth 4.Oggood 5. Sudsud 6. Ullalim

Famous Writers associated with CAR:

1.Ma. Luisa Aguilar-Cariño (Baguio)

Region 3:
1.Bataan 2.Bulacan 3.Nueva Ecija 4.Pampanga 5.Tarlac 6.Zambales

Literary Forms:
1.Riddles 2.Balagtasan

Famous Writers associated with Region 3:

1.Virgilio Almario (Bulacan) 2.Francisco Baltazar (Bulacan) 3. Jose Corazon de Jesus
(Bulacan)
4.Maria Magsano (Pangasinan)
Region 4:
1.Aurora 2.Batangas 3.Cavite 4.Laguna 5.Marinduque 6.Occidental Mindoro 7.Oriental
Mindoro
8.Palawan 9.Quezon 10.Rizal 11.Romblon

Literary Forms:
1.Creation stories 2.Proverbs 3.Myth 4. Ambahan 5.Tultul

Famous Writers associated with Region 4:

1.Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales (Romblon) 2.Jose Rizal (Laguna)
Region 5:
1.Albay 2.Camarines Norte 3. Camarines Sur 4. Catanduanes 5. Masbate 6.Sorsogon

Famous Writers associated with Region 5:

1.Merlinda Bobis (Legaspi City) 2.Ricardo Lee (Camarines Norte) 3.Angela Manalang-Gloria
(Pampanga) 4.Jose Maria Panganiban (Camarines Norte) 5. Kerima Polotan Tuvera (Jolo, Sulu)
6.Valerio Zuñiga

Region 6:
1.Aklan 2.Antique 3.Capiz 4. Guimaras 5.Iloilo 6.Negros Occidental

Literary Forms:
1.Paktakon 2.Hurubaton 3.Sugilanon 4.Bordon 5.Luwa 6.Balitao 7.Siday 8.Binalaybalay
9.Comoposo 10.Korido 11.Sarswela 12.Nobela

Famous Writers associated with Region 6:

1.Elsa Martinez Coscolluela (Dumaguete) 2.Leoncio Deriada (Iloilo) 3.Magdalena Jalandoni
(Iloilo)
4.Santiago Alv. Mulato (Iloilo)

Region 7:
1.Bohol 2. Cebu 3.Negros Oriental 4. Siquijor

Literary Forms:
1.Ambahan 2.Balak 3.Bikal 4.Siday 5.Parahaya 6.Awit 7.Garay 8.Gabay 9.Inagung
10.Uriyan 11.Cachorinon 12.Comintang 13.Guya 14. Sugianan 15.Mubong 16.Sugilanon
17.Pinadalagan 18.Sonanoy 19.Siniloy 20.Binirisbis 21.Gumalaysay 23.Nobela

Famous Writers associated with Region 7:

1.Estrella Alfon (Cebu) 2.Rene Amper (Cebu) 3.Lina Espina Moore (Cebu) 4.Marjorie Evasco
(Bohol) 5.Marcel Navarra (Cebu) 6.Godofredo Roperos (Cebu) 7.Edilberto Tiempo (Leyte)
8.Edith Tiempo (Nueva Vizcaya)
Region 8:
1.Biliran 2.Eastern Samar 3. Leyte 4.Northern Samar 5.Southern Leyte 6.Western Samar

Literary Forms:
1.Ambahan 2.Balao 3.Bical 4.Haya 5.Awit 6.Sidai 7.Ismaylingay 8.Canogon
9.Titiguhon 10.Dayhuan 11.Puplongan 12.Candu 13.Sareta 14.Susumaton 15.Posong

Famous Writers associated with Region 8:

1.Merile Nunan (Iloilo) 2.Iluminado Lucente (Leyte)

Region 9:
1.Basilan 2.Zamboanga del Norte 3.Zamboanga del Sur

Literary Forms:
1.Long tales 2. Legends

Famous Writers associated with Region 9:

1.Mig Alvarez Enriquez (Zamboanga City)

Region 10:
1.Bukidnon 2.Camiguin 3.Misamis Occidental 4. Misamis Oriental

Literary Form:
1.Limbay

Region 11:
1.Davao del Norte 2.Davao del Sur 3.Davao Oriental 4.Compostela Valley

Famous Writers associated with Region 11:

1.Aida Rivera Ford 2.Tita Lacambra Ayala

Region 12:
1.Lanao del Norte 2.North Cotabato

Literary Forms:
1.Myths 2.heroic narratives 3. Epics 4. Legends 5.Folktales

Famous Writers associated with Region 12:

1.Christine Godinez-Ortega (Dumaguete City) 2.Jaime An Lim (Cagayan de Oro)
Region 13 (CARAGA)
1.Agusan del Norte 2.Agusan del Sur 3.Surigao del Sur 4.Surigao del Norte

NCR:
1.Caloocan 2.Las Piñas 3.Makati 4.Malabon 5.Navotas 6.Mandaluyong 7.Manila
8.Marikina 9.Muntinlupa 10.Navotas 11.Parañaque 12.Pasay 13.Pasig 14.Pateros
15.Quezon City 16. San Juan 17.Taguig 18.valenzuela

Famous Writers associated with NCR:

1.Francisco Arcellana (Sta Cruz, Manila) 2.Cirilo Bautista (Manila) 3.Luahalati Bautista
(Tondo, Manila) 4.Rosario de Guzman-Lingat (Manila) 5.Genoveva Edroza-Matute (Manila)
6.Amado Hernandez (Manila) 7.Grace Hsieh Hsing (Manila) 8. Nick Joaquin (Manila) 9.Ruth
Elynia Mabango (Manila) 10. Buenaventura Medina (Tondo, Manila)

Outline of Literary Forms Based on Philippine Historical Period

A. Ancient Literature/Folk Literature

1. Myth 2. Heroic Narratives 3.Ethiological Legends 4.Folk Tales

1.Myth – a traditional story in pros concerning details of gods and demigods and the creation
of the world and its inhabitants
Examples: 1.Visayan Creation Myth 2.Bagobo Creation Story 3.Tungkung Langit and Alunsina

2. Heroic Narratives – folk epics which narrate the adventures of tribal heroes which
embody in themselves the ideals and values of the group.
Examples: 1.Lam-ang (Ilocano) 2.Ullalim (Kalinga) 3.Ibalon (Bicol) 4.Indarapatra at Sulayman
(Maguindanao)

3.Ethiological Legends – Legends which explain how things came to be, why things are as
they are
Examples: 1.Legend of Mayon Volcano 2.Legends of the Tagalogs 3.Gaddang

4.Folk Tales – prose narratives regarded as:

a. Animal Tale – a folk tale using animals as characters
Examples: 1.The Monkey and the Turtle
2. The Cow and the Carabao
b. Folk Speech – the simplest form of oral literature
Examples: 1.Riddles – description of object in terms intended to suggest something
entirely different.
 “Tumakbo si Juan, nahati ang daan” – Zipper

2.Proverbs – short popular sayings that express effectively some

commonplace truth
or useful thought
“Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makararating sa paroroonan”

c.Folk Songs – verses set into music by the members of the community
Examples: 1.Dandansoy
2.Manang Biday

Philippine Literature Under Spanish Period

I. Poetry II. Prose III.Drama

I. POETRY
A. Ladino Poems
B. Metrical Romances

A. Ladinos – were natives, First Tagalog versifiers who saw print; highly literate in both
Spanish and the vernacular

Example of Ladino poetry : “Salamat nang Ualang Hangga” by Fernando Bagongbanta

- a twelve-stanza poem in alternating Tagalog and Spanish
lines

Salamat nang ualang hangga

Gracias se den sempiternas
Sa nagpasilang nang tala
Al que hizo salir la estrella
Macapagpanao nang dilim
Que destierre las teniellas
Sa lahat na bayan natin
De toda esta nuestra tierra

B. Metrical Romances
1.Corridos
2. Awit

1. Corridos – were widely read during the Spanish period that filled the
populace’s need for entertaining as well as edifying reading matter in their leisure moments.
 -these are extended verse narrative based on tales brought into the
country from Europe.
-deal mostly on courtly love and the chivalric adventures of such
heroes as Charlemagne and his peers and El Cid, but they are not literal translation of the
original works.
-the structure is octosyllabic quatrains
Example: “Ang Ibong Adarna

Oh, Birheng kaibig-ibig

Ina naming nasa langit
Liwanagan yaring isip
Nang sa layo’y di malihis

Ganito ang napagsapit

Ng haring kaibig-ibig
Nang siya ay managinip
Isang gabing naidlip

Di umno’y si Don Juan

Bunso niyang minamahal
Ay nililo at pinatay
Ng dalawang tampalasan

May isang ibong maganda

Ang pangalan ay Adarna
Pag narinig mong kumanta
Sa sakit ay giginhawa

2. Awit – like Corridos, these were also widely read during the Spanish period
as entertaining, edifying reading matter in their leisure time.
-is a fabrication of the writers in imagination although the characters and
the setting may ne European.
-the structure is rendered in dodecasyllabic quatrains
-refers to chanting
Example: “Florante at Laura” by Francisco Baltazar

Ang taong magawi sa ligaya’t aliw

Mahina ang puso’t lubhang maramdamin
Inaakala pa lamang ang hilahil
Na daratna’y di na matutughang bathin
Baltazar’s masterpiece is more tha a romance in verse. He expressed his reaction to the political
conditions of the time. Speaking through Florante – the poet’s symbol for colonized Philippines
– he bitterly criticized injustice, hypocrisy and intolerance of the regime. The message was not
immediately felt by the Spanish authorities for they were more attracted to the lyrical verses
that were homiletic in nature and to the refreshing narration of the victory of a Christian prince
over a Moslem Persian.

II. PROSE
The prose works of the Spanish period consisted mostly of didactic pieces and
translations of religious writings in foreign languages.
The most important piece of didactic literature of this period is: URBANA AT FELIZA
written by Fr. Modesto de Castro. Published in 1855, it took the form of the epistolary novel
with the full title of “PAGSUSULATAN NG DALAUANG BINIBINI NA SI URBANA AT FELIZA NA
NAGTUTURO NG MABUTING CAUGALIAN”
It is an exchange of letters between two sisters: Urbana, who is a student in a college in
Manila, and feliza, who lives in the province with their parents. Urbana’s letters are full of
advice to her sister on proper behavior at home, in church and on other occasions.

III. DRAMA

A. Religious Drama
B. Secular Drama

A. RELIGIOUS DRAMAS
Arranged according to the appearance in the liturgical calendar of the events
they celebrate

1. THE PANUNULUYAN – literally, seeking entrance, the Tagalog version of the Mexican
Posadas. Held on the eve of Christmas, it dramatizes Joseph’s and Mary’s search for lodging in
Bethlehem.
-is also calledPananpatan or Panawagan. Gagharong or
Pagharongharong in Bicol

2. THE CENACULO – was originally just the dramatization of the passion and death of Jesus
Christ presented during Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

-the players either speak their lines in a slow deliberate way (hablada), or
chant their lines in the manner of pasyon singing (cantada).

3. THE SALUBONG – an Easter play that dramatizes the meeting of the risen Christ and his
mother
4. THE MORIONES – refers to the participants dressed as Roman soldiers, their identities
hidden behind colorful, sometimes grotesque, wooden masks.

The Pugutan or beheading climaxes the Moriones Festival. The headless body is taken in
procession around the town by his fellow moriones and then buried.

The Moriones festival celebrates the life of Longinus, the Roman soldier who pierced
Christ's side during the Crucifixion. Blood from the wound spattered Longinus's blind eye, which
was immediately healed. Converted on the spot, he later attested to the Resurrection and,
refusing to recant, was executed.

5. THE TIBAG – or SANTACRUZAN, performed during the month of May which has the
devotion to the Holy Cross. It depicts St. Elena’s search for the cross on which Christ died.

-the Tagalog name TIBAG comes from the act of excavating or leveling the
mounds.

6. THE PANGANGALULUWA – an interesting socio-religious practice on All Saints’ Day

which literally means “For the Soul”

-the practice is based on the old belief that souls in the purgatory are “released”
on the night of All Saints’ Day to go begging alms on earth.

B. SECULAR DRAMAS
These were generally held during the nine nights of vigil and prayers after
someone’s death, or the first death anniversary when the family members put away their
mourning clothes.

1. THE KARAGATAN – “open sea”, comes from the legendary practice of testing the mettle
of the young men vying for a maiden’s hand. The maiden’s ring would be dropped into the sea
and whoever retrieves it would have the girl’s hand in marriage.

2. THE DUPLO – a forerunner of Balagtasan. The performers consist of two teams: one
composed of young women called Dupleras or Belyakas; and the other, of young men called
Dupleros or Belyakos. An elderly man – the Hari or Punong Halaman – presides over the
proceedings.

3.THE COMEDIA – one of the earliest forms of stage drama which took on a particular
aspect; that of a particular play which had for its main theme courtly love, usually between
prince and princess of different religions – one Christian, the other a Muslim. These conflicts
were resolved in the end, with victory of the Christians, a propaganda tool which was endorsed
by the friars.