Period of

Activism
Rezia Kish Balcita, Czarina Dela
Cruz, John Gab Gonzales,
Jasmine Hernandez
Table of Contents
01. 04.
Historical Background Writings during the Period
of Activism
02.
The Seeds of Activism 05.
and Period of the Bloody Palanca Awardees
Placards

03. 06.
Writers during this
The Literary Revolution Period
 01.
Historical Background
Czarina P. Dela Cruz
Historical Background
★ According to Ponciano Pineda, youth
activism was due to domestic and worldwide
causes.
★ Because of the ills of the society, the youth
moved to seeks reforms.
★ In the expression of this desire for change,
keen were the writings of some youth who
were fired with nationalism in order to
emphasize the importance of their petitions.

Ponciano B. P. Pineda
Historical Background
★ Many young people became activists to ask for
changes in the government.
★ Many young activists were imprisoned in
military camps together with rebel writers. As
early as this period of history, we can say that
many of those writers who were imprisoned were
true nationalists and heroes of their time.
★ Many books aptly record and embody these times
but many of these are not known to many and
many of these writers still have to be interviewed.
We just leave to scholars and researchers the
giving of credit where credit is due.
02. Seeds of Activism
and Period of the
Bloody Placards
Rezia Kish A. Balcita
 The Seeds of Activism
The seeds of activism resulted in the declaration of
Martial Law in 1972. We can, however say that the seed
were earlier sown from the times of Lapu Lapu,
Lakandula, and Rizal. The revolutions against the
powerful forces in the Philippines can be said to be the
monopoly of the youth in whose veins flow the fire in
their blood. What Rizal said of the youth being the hope
of the Fatherland is still valid until today.
 Period of the Bloody Placards
Pineda also said that this was the time when the youth
once more proved that it is not the constant evasion that
shape our race and nationalism.
There are limits to one’s patience. It may explode like a
volcano if overstrained.
 The Literary
03. Revolution
Jasmine Ruth T. Hernandez
 The Literary Revolution
The youth became completely rebellious during this
period. This was proven not only in the bloody
demonstrations and in the sidewalk expressions but
also in literature. Campus newspapers showed
rebellious emotions. The once aristocratic writers
developed an awareness for society. They held pens
and wrote on placards in red paint the equivalent of
the word MAKIBAKA (To dare!).
 The Literary Revolution
They attacked the ills of society and politics. Any
establishment became the symbol of the ills that had
to be changed. The frustrations of youth could be felt
in churches and schools.
Even the priests, teachers and parents, as authorities
who should be respected became targets radical
youths and were thought of as hindrances to the
changes they sought.
 The Literary Revolution
The literature of the activists reached a point where
they stated boldly what should be done to affect
these changes.
Some of those who rallied to this revolutionary form
of literature were Rolando Tinio, Rogelio Mangahas,
Efren Abueg, Rio Alma, and Clemente Bautista.
04. Writings during
the Period of
Activism
Jasmine Ruth T. Hernandez
Writings During The Period Of Activism
The following is an example of the writings that prevailed during
this period:
“Marahil dahop ang dila ko upang isaulo't ipaliwanag
Ang panaginip at kamatayan ng sanglaksang anak-pawis
Saksi ako sa palahaw ng mga dalagitang tila kinakatay na baboy

habang ginagahasa ng mga hayok na pulitiko't negosyante

Sa sabuyan ng putik ng mga kongresiatang pagkuan,
kapiling ang kani-kaniyang alipores at Tagapayong Puti ay naguunahang ibenta
ang bayan

Ano ang silbi ng kabayanihan? Ng limos na laurel at ginto?

Ipangangalan sa iyo'y isang kalyeng baku-bako o kaya'y lumutang
monumentong ihian ng mga lasenggo?”
Writings During The Period Of Activism
The following is an example of the writings that prevailed during
this period:
“Maybe my mind is impoverished to explain, to put to memory
The dreams and death of the poor
I’m witness to the cries of young girls butchered like pigs
While being raped by greedy politicians and businessmen.
In the mudslinging of congressmen, who at once join
their followers and alien advisers who
compete to sell their country
What price heroism? Of laurel and golden alms?
They’ll name you after a crooked street or a mossy
monument which drunkards use for throwing.”
The irreverence for the poor reached its peak during this
mass revolution. These few stanzas written in English from a
poem of Federico Licsi Espino will prove this:
“Hands that broadcast sweet Why should they who plant and grind
Brandish placards of protest The corn grow thin on grit and homing?
In the haciendas of Negros
Sugar cane turns bitter Strike! Strike! Strike!
In the rice granaries of Luzon A dormant hate erupts
Hatred, hammers, sickles, Bundok Buntis, Arayat! Kanlaon!
On old newspapers
Students write the rubrica of dissent
Why should they who roast
The suckling grown loan on verbiage?
It was also during this period
that Bomba films that
discredited our ways as
Filipinos started to come out.
 Palanca
05. Awardees
John Gabriel A. Gonzales
Palanca Awards
★ Established in 1950, the Palanca
Carlos Memorial Awards for Literature had
Palanca been giving cash prizes for short
story, poetry, and one-act play
Senior writing as an incentive to Filipino
writers. The prizes come from La
Tondena, Inc., the firm founded by
Don carlos the late Carlos Palanca Sr. For the
PALANCA list of winners from 1950-51 to
1960-70, we recommend Alberto S.
MEMORIAL Florentino's "Twenty Years of
AWARDS FOR Palanca Awards"
LITERATURE
 Palanca Awards
★ Usually referred to as the "Pulitzer
Prize of the Philippines", it is the
country's highest literary honor in
terms of prestige. Winning works are
entered in the competition either as
previously published pieces or in
manuscript form.
★ Established in 1950 to inspire and
recognize Philippine writers, including
poets, playwrights and screenwriters,
and writers for children.
 ENGLISH SHORT STORY
1970-71
First Prize: "THE RITUAL" by
Cirilo F. Bautista
Second Prize: "BREAST IN THE
FIELDS" by Resil Majares
Third Prize: "CHILDREN OF THE
CITY" by Amadis Ma. Guerrero
1970-71
First Prize: "THE ARCHIPELAGO"
by Cirilo F. Bautista
Second Prize: "FIVE POEMS" by
Wilfredo Pascus Sanchez
Third Prize: "FROM MACTAN TO
MENDIOLA" by Federico Lacsi
Espino, Jr.
 ENGLISH POETRY
1971-72
First Prize: "THE TOMATO GAME"
by N.V.M. Gonzales
Second Prize: "THE APOLLO
CENTENNIAL" by Gregorio
Brilliantes
Third Prize: "AFTER THIS, OUR
EXILE" by Elsa Martinez
Coscolluela
1971-72
First Prize: "BATUK MAKER AND
OTHER POEMS" by Virginia R.
Moreno
Second Prize: "THE EDGE OF THE
WIND" by Artemio Tadena
Third Prize: "TINIKLING (A
SHEAF OF POEMS)" by Federico
Licsi Espino, Jr.
 ENGLISH ONE-ACT PLAY
1970-71 1971-72
First Prize: "GRAVE FOR BLUE FLOWER" by Jesus T.
First Prize: "THE
Peralta
GROTESQUE AMONG US"
by Maiden Flores Second Prize: "THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY" by
Manuel M. Martell
Second Prize: "AGE OF
Third Prize: (The judges recommend that inasmuch as
PROMETHEUS" by Jesus
the three third prize winners are especially deserving,
T. Peralta
the prize of P1,000.00 be divided among these three:
Third Prize: "OPERATION "THE BOXES" by Rolando S. Tinio
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06. Writers During
this Period
John Gabriel A. Gonzales
 Jose F. Lacaba, in his book DAYS OF DISQUIET, NIGHTS OF RAGE;
THE FIRST QUARTERS STORM AND RELATED EVENTS, wrote of the
tragic and tumultuous moments in our country's history.
Describing this period, he writes: "That first quarter of the year
1970... It was a glorious time, a time of terror and of wrath, but also a time
for hope. The signs of change were on the horizon. A powerful storm
was sweeping the land, a storm whose inexorable advance no earthly
force could stop, and the name of the storm was history.
He mentions that those students demonstrating at that time knew
and were always aware that what they were doing would be crucial to
our country's history. Student leaders thought up grandiose names for
their organizations and hence, the proliferation of acronyms like
SUCCOR, YDS, KTPD, SAGUPA, SMP, KKK, MHP, and SDK.
 Politicians endorsed bills for those who interfered with student demonstrators.
Mayor Antonio Villegas himself, on Feb. 18, 1970, led demonstrators away from angry
policemen. Other politicians like Eva Estrada Kalaw, and Salvador Laurel.
Benigno Aquino Jr. wrote about condemnation of police brutalities.
Lacaba's book is truly representative of writers who were eyewitnesses to this
time "of terror and wrath."
Other writers strove to pour out their anguish and frustrations in words
describing themselves as "gasping for air, thirsting for the waters of freedom." Thus,
the Philippine Center for the International PEN (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists) held
a conference centering on the "writer's lack of freedom in a climate of fear."
For a day, they denounced restrictions on artistic freedom and passionately led a
plea for freedom. Among the writers in this group were: Nick Joaquin, S. P. Lopez,
Gregorio Brillantes, F. Sionil Jose, Petronilo Daroy, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, Mauro
Avelina, and Jose W. Diokno.
 People in the other media participated in the quest for freedom.
Journalists like Jose Burgos Jr., Antonio Ma. Nieva.; movie director Lino
Brocka, art critic Leonidas Benesa, book publisher Gloria Rodriquez and
music critic Anna Leah S. de Leon were battling head-on against
censorship.
They came up with resolutions that pleaded for causes other than
their own - like the general amnesty for political prisoners, and other
secret decrees restricting free expression.
They requested editors and publishers to publish the real names of
writers in their columns. It called on media to disseminate information
on national interest without partisan leanings and resolved to be united
with all causes decrying oppression and repression.
 CHAPTER 8 SUMMARY:
➔ Activism was due to domestic and worldwide causes.
➔ Writing was some of the youth’s way to make their voices heard. Furthermore, many young
activists were imprisoned in military camps.
➔ The seeds of activism resulted in the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.
➔ The literature of the activists reached a point where they stated boldly what should be done to
affect these changes.
➔ Established in 1950, the Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature had been giving cash prizes
as an incentive to Filipino writers.
➔ Describing this period, Jose Lacaba writes: "That first quarter of the year 1970... It was a
glorious time, a time of terror and of wrath, but also a time for hope.” They came up with
resolutions that pleaded for causes other than their own - like the general amnesty for political
prisoners, and other secret decrees restricting free expression.
Thank
you for
listening!
CRÉDITOS: este modelo de apresentação foi criado pelo Slidesgo, e
inclui ícones da Flaticon e infográficos e imagens da Freepik