Reference No: KLL-FO-ACAD-000 | Effectivity Date: August 3, 2020 | Revisions No.

: 00

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A center of human development committed to the pursuit of wisdom, truth, Establish and maintain an academic environment promoting the pursuit of
justice, pride, dignity, and local/global competitiveness via a quality but excellence and the total development of its students as human beings,
affordable education for all qualified clients. with fear of God and love of country and fellowmen.

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Kolehiyo ng Lungsod ng Lipa aims to:
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Lesson 3
Philippine Literature during the American Period

DR. LILIA QUINDOZA-SANTIAGO

Philippine literary production during the American Period in the Philippines was spurred by two
significant developments in education and culture. One is the introduction of free public instruction
for all children of school age and two, the use of English as medium of instruction in all levels of
education in public schools.

Free public education made knowledge and information accessible to a greater number of Filipinos.
Those who availed of this education through college were able to improve their social status and
joined a good number of educated masses who became part of the country’s middle class.

The use of English as medium of instruction introduced Filipinos to Anglo-American modes of

thought, culture and life ways that would be embedded not only in the literature produced but also
in the psyche of the country’s educated class. It was this educated class that would be the wellspring
of a vibrant Philippine Literature in English.

Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not
escape being imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship.
The poetry written by early poets manifested studied attempts at versification as in the following
poem which is proof of the poet’s rather elementary exercise in the English language:

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 Vacation days at last are here,
And we have time for fun so dear,
All boys and girls do gladly cheer,
This welcomed season of the year.
In early June in school we’ll meet;
A harder task shall we complete
And if we fail we must repeat
That selfsame task without retreat.
We simply rest to come again
To school where boys and girls obtain
The Creator’s gift to men
Whose sanguine hopes in us remain.
Vacation means a time for play
For young and old in night and day
My wish for all is to be gay,
And evil none lead you astray

– Juan F. Salazar

Philippines Free Press, May 9, 1909

The poem was anthologized in the first collection of poetry in English, Filipino Poetry, edited by
Rodolfo Dato (1909 – 1924). Among the poets featured in this anthology were Proceso Sebastian
Maximo Kalaw, Fernando Maramag, Leopoldo Uichanco, Jose Ledesma, Vicente Callao, Santiago
Sevilla, Bernardo Garcia, Francisco Africa, Pablo Anzures, Carlos P. Romulo, Francisco
Tonogbanua, Juan Pastrana, Maria Agoncillo, Paz Marquez Benitez, Luis Dato and many others.
Another anthology, The English German Anthology of Poets edited by Pablo Laslo was published
and covered poets published from 1924-1934 among whom were Teofilo D. Agcaoili, Aurelio Alvero,
Horacio de la Costa, Amador T. Daguio, Salvador P. Lopez, Angela Manalang Gloria, Trinidad
Tarrosa, Abelardo Subido and Jose Garcia Villa, among others. A third pre-war collection of poetry
was edited by Carlos Bulosan, Chorus for America: Six Philippine Poets. The six poets in this
collection were Jose Garcia Villa, Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Rodrigo T. Feria, C.B. Rigor, Cecilio
Baroga and Carlos Bulosan.

In fiction, the period of apprenticeship in literary writing in English is marked by imitation of the style
of storytelling and strict adherence to the craft of the short story as practiced by popular American
fictionists. Early short story writers in English were often dubbed as the Andersons or Saroyans or
the Hemingways of Philippine letters. Leopoldo Yabes in his study of the Philippine short story in
English from 1925 to 1955 points to these models of American fiction exerting profound influence on
the early writings of story writers like Francisco Arcellana, A.E. Litiatco, Paz Latorena.

When the University of the Philippines was founded in 1908, an elite group of writers in English
began to exert influence among the culturati. The U.P. Writers Club founded in 1926, had stated that
one of its aims was to enhance and propagate the “language of Shakespeare.” In 1925, Paz Marquez
Benitez short story, “Dead Stars” was published and was made the landmark of the maturity of the
Filipino writer in English. Soon after Benitez, short story writers began publishing stories no longer
imitative of American models. Thus, story writers like Icasiano Calalang, A.E. Litiatco, Arturo Rotor,

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Lydia Villanueva, Paz Latorena, Manuel Arguilla began publishing stories manifesting both skilled
use of the language and a keen Filipino sensibility.

This combination of writing in a borrowed tongue while dwelling on Filipino customs and traditions
earmarked the literary output of major Filipino fictionists in English during the American period. Thus,
the major novels of the period, such as the Filipino Rebel, by Maximo Kalaw, and His Native Soil by
Juan C. Laya, are discourses on cultural identity, nationhood and being Filipino done in the English
language. Stories such as “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” by Manuel Arguilla scanned
the scenery as well as the folkways of Ilocandia while N.V. M. Gonzales’s novels and stories such
as “Children of the Ash Covered Loam,” present the panorama of Mindoro, in all its customs and
traditions while configuring its characters in the human dilemma of nostalgia and poverty. Apart from
Arguilla and Gonzales, noted fictionists during the period included Francisco Arcellana, whom Jose
Garcia Villa lauded as a “genius” storyteller, Consorcio Borje, Aida Rivera, Conrado Pedroche,
Amador Daguio, Sinai Hamada, Hernando Ocampo, Fernando Maria Guerrero. Jose Garcia Villa
himself wrote several short stories but devoted most of his time to poetry.

In 1936, when the Philippine Writers League was organized, Filipino writers in English began
discussing the value of literature in society. Initiated and led by Salvador P. Lopez, whose essays
on Literature and Society provoked debates, the discussion centered on proletarian literature, i.e.,
engaged or committed literature versus the art for art’s sake literary orientation. But this discussion
curiously left out the issue of colonialism and colonial literature and the whole place of literary writing
in English under a colonial set-up that was the Philippines then.

With Salvador P. Lopez, the essay in English gained the upper hand in day to day discourse on
politics and governance. Polemicists who used to write in Spanish like Claro M. Recto, slowly started
using English in the discussion of current events even as newspaper dailies moved away from
Spanish reporting into English. Among the essayists, Federico Mangahas had an easy facility with
the language and the essay as genre. Other noted essayists during the period were Fernando
Maramag, Carlos P. Romulo, Conrado Ramirez.

On the other hand, the flowering of a vibrant literary tradition due to historical events did not
altogether hamper literary production in the native or indigenous languages. In fact, the early period
of the 20th century was remarkable for the significant literary output of all major languages in the
various literary genre.

It was during the early American period that seditious plays, using the form of the zarzuela, were
mounted. Zarsuwelistas Juan Abad, Aurelio Tolentino ,Juan Matapang Cruz. Juan Crisostomo Sotto
mounted the classics like Tanikalang Ginto, Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas and Hindi Ako Patay, all
directed against the American imperialists. Patricio Mariano’s Anak ng Dagat and Severino Reyes’s
Walang Sugat are equally remarkable zarsuwelas staged during the period.

On the eve of World War II, Wilfredo Maria Guerrero would gain dominance in theatre through his
one-act plays which he toured through his “mobile theatre”. Thus, Wanted a Chaperone and The
Forsaken Housebecame very popular in campuses throughout the archipelago.

The novel in Tagalog, Iloko, Hiligaynon and Sugbuanon also developed during the period aided
largely by the steady publication of weekly magazines like the Liwayway, Bannawag and Bisaya
which serialized the novels.

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Among the early Tagalog novelists of the 20th century were Ishmael Amado, Valeriano Hernandez
Peña, Faustino Aguilar, Lope K. Santos and Lazaro Francisco.

Ishmael Amado’s Bulalakaw ng Pag-asa published in 1909 was one of the earliest novels that dealt
with the theme of American imperialism in the Philippines. The novel, however, was not released
from the printing press until 1916, at which time, the author, by his own admission and after having
been sent as a pensionado to the U.S., had other ideas apart from those he wrote in the novel.

Valeriano Hernandez Peña’s Nena at Neneng narrates the story of two women who happened to be
best of friends as they cope with their relationships with the men in their lives. Nena succeeds in her
married life while Neneng suffers from a stormy marriage because of her jealous husband.

Faustino Aguilar published Pinaglahuan, a love triangle set in the early years of the century when
the worker’s movement was being formed. The novel’s hero, Luis Gatbuhay, is a worker in a printery
who is imprisoned for a false accusation and loses his love, Danding, to his rival Rojalde, son of a
wealthy capitalist. Lope K. Santos, Banaag at Sikat has almost the same theme and motif as the
hero of the novel, Delfin, also falls in love with a rich woman, daughter of a wealthy landlord. The
love story of course is set also within the background of development of the worker’s trade union
movement and throughout the novel, Santos engages the readers in lengthy treatises and
discourses on socialism and capitalism. Many other Tagalog novelists wrote on variations of the
same theme, i.e., the interplay of fate, love and social justice. Among these writers are Inigo Ed
Regalado, Roman Reyes, Fausto J. Galauran, Susana de Guzman, Rosario de Guzman-Lingat,
Lazaro Francisco, Hilaria Labog, Rosalia Aguinaldo, Amado V. Hernandez. Many of these writers
were able to produce three or more novels as Soledad Reyes would bear out in her book which is
the result of her dissertation, Ang Nobelang Tagalog (1979).

Among the Iloko writers, noted novelists were Leon Pichay, who was also the region’s poet laureate
then, Hermogenes Belen, and Mena Pecson Crisologo whose Mining wenno Ayat ti Kararwa is
considered to be the Iloko version of a Noli me Tangere.

In the Visayas, Magdalena Jalandoni and Ramon Muzones would lead most writers in writing the
novels that dwelt on the themes of love, courtship, life in the farmlands, and other social upheavals
of the period. Marcel Navarra wrote stories and novels in Sugbuhanon.

Poetry in all languages continued to flourish in all regions of the country during the American period.
The Tagalogs, hailing Francisco F. Balagtas as the nation’s foremost poet invented the balagtasan
in his honor. Thebalagtasan is a debate in verse, a poetical joust done almost spontaneously
between protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of an issue.

The first balagtasan was held in March 1924 at the Instituto de Mujeres, with Jose Corazon de Jesus
and Florentino Collantes as rivals, bubuyog (bee) and paru-paro (butterfly) aiming for the love of
kampupot (jasmine). It was during this balagtasan that Jose Corazon de Jesus, known as Huseng
Batute, emerged triumphant to become the first king of the Balagtasan. Jose Corazon de Jesus was
the finest master of the genre. He was later followed by balagtasistas, Emilio Mar Antonio and
Crescenciano Marquez, who also became King of the Balagtasan in their own time.

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As Huseng Batute, de Jesus also produced the finest poems and lyrics during the period. His
debates with Amado V. Hernandez on the political issue of independence from America and
nationhood were mostly done in verse and are testament to the vitality of Tagalog poetry during the
era. Lope K. Santos, epic poem, Ang Panggingera is also proof of how poets of the period have
come to master the language to be able to translate it into effective poetry.

The balagtasan would be echoed as a poetical fiesta and would be duplicated in the Ilocos as the
bukanegan, in honor of Pedro Bukaneg, the supposed transcriber of the epic, Biag ni Lam-ang; and
the Crissottan, in Pampanga, in honor of the esteemed poet of the Pampango, Juan Crisostomo
Sotto.

In 1932, Alejandro G. Abadilla, armed with new criticism and an orientation on modernist poetry
would taunt traditional Tagalog poetics with the publication of his poem, “Ako ang Daigdig.” Abadilla’s
poetry began the era of modernism in Tagalog poetry, a departure from the traditional rhymed,
measured and orally recited poems. Modernist poetry which utilized free or blank verses was
intended more for silent reading than oral delivery.

Noted poets in Tagalog during the American period were Julian Cruz Balmaceda, Florentino
Collantes, Pedro Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Benigno Ramos, Inigo Ed. Regalado,
Ildefonso Santos, Lope K. Santos, Aniceto Silvestre, Emilio Mar. Antonio, Alejandro Abadilla and
Teodoro Agoncillo.

Like the writers in English who formed themselves into organizations, Tagalog writers also formed
the Ilaw at Panitik, and held discussions and workshops on the value of literature in society. Benigno
Ramos, was one of the most politicized poets of the period as he aligned himself with the peasants
of the Sakdal Movement.

Fiction in Tagalog as well as in the other languages of the regions developed alongside the novel.
Most fictionists are also novelists. Brigido Batungbakal, Macario Pineda and other writers chose to
dwell on the vicissitudes of life in a changing rural landscape. Deogracias Del Rosario on the other
hand, chose the city and the emerging social elite as subjects of his stories. He is considered the
father of the modern short story in Tagalog

Among the more popular fictionists who emerged during the period are two women writers, Liwayway
Arceo and Genoveva Edroza Matute, considered forerunners in the use of “light” fiction, a kind of
story telling that uses language through poignant rendition. Genoveva Edroza Matute’s “Ako’y Isang
Tinig” and Liwayway Arceo’s “Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa” have been used as models of fine writing
in Filipino by teachers of composition throughout the school system.

Teodoro Agoncillo’s anthology 25 Pinakamahusay na Maiikling Kuwento (1945) included the

foremost writers of fiction in the pre-war era.

The separate, yet parallel developments of Philippine literature in English and those in Tagalog and
other languages of the archipelago during the American period only prove that literature and writing
in whatever language and in whatever climate are able to survive mainly through the active
imagination of writers. Apparently, what was lacking during the period was for the writers in the
various languages to come together, share experiences and come to a conclusion on the elements
that constitute good writing in the Philippines.

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About the Author:

Lilia Quindoza-Santiago is the author behind “Kagampanan at Iba Pang Tula” and “Ang
Manggagamot ng Salay-Salay” (a collection of stories). She was named Makata ng Taon (1989) in
the annual Talaang Ginto of the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa for her work “Sa Ngalan ng Ina, ng
Anak, ng Diwata’t Paraluman”. She teaches Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines

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