UNIT III

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE DURING THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

TO THE PRESENT
No. Of Hours: 12 hours

Introduction

In 1986, the Filipino people regained their independence which they lost twenty years ago. In
the span of four days form February 21- 25, 1986, the so-called People Power (Lakas ng
Bayan) prevailed. Together, the people barricaded the streets petitioning the government for
changes and reforms. Freedom became a reality – won through a peaceful, bloodless and
God-blessed revolution. Philippine society was in turmoil for a few weeks but the rejoicing
after the Pres. Marcos was toppled down from power was sheer euphoria. Singing, dancing
and shouting were the order of the day. 

The events created overnight heroes. In this historical event, the role played by two big
figures in history cannot be doubted. To Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed
Forces Chief of Staff Fidel V. Ramos, as well as to the cause of freedom do the Filipinos owe
their gratitude for the blessing of Independence? To the Filipino people, this is the true
Philippine Republic, the true Republic of the Philippines.

Topic 1: Historical Background

Learning Objectives:
1. Trace the historical background of Philippine literature during the contemporary
period to the present;
2. Discuss with the people of the community to gather insights on an event that impacted
the lives of Filipinos and Filipino writers.

Activity 1:

Take time to sit down with any elder in the family (mother/father, grandpa/grandma, an
aunt/uncle, the seller in a sari-sari store, a friend). Ask about the EDSA Revolution in 1986,
what happened, who were there, why did it happen, etc.). Then, reflect on the events in those
frightful days. If you were a part of that event, where would you be? What would be your
participation in this historical event?

Write in the box below your ideas.

Presentation of Content

The State of Literature During this Period

In the short span of the existence of the true Republic of the Philippines, several changes
already became evident. This in noticed in the new Filipino songs, in the newspapers, in the
speeches, and even in the television programs. 1. On Newspapers and other publications:
Newspapers which were once branded crony newspapers became instant opposition papers
overnight. This was true of BULLETIN TODAY which became the opposition paper. The
now crony newspapers that enjoyed an overnight increase in circulation were THE
INQUIRER, MALAYA, and the PEOPLE’S JOURNAL. 

Newspapers felt that the shackles that muzzled their voices during the repressive years had
been broken and, like a bird “trying its wings after a long time of bondage,” the desire to
write about this “miracle of change” was electric. Columnists became vocal and unrestricted
in there are and a bumper crop of young journalists emerged. The old stalwarts of the former
dispensation like Maximo Soliven, Louie Beltran, Hilarion Henares, and Francisco Soc
Rodrigo came back with a vengeance. 

By June 12, 1986, a total of 19 local dailies both in English and Filipino were in circulation.
Nowhere since the 1950’s had there been such a big number of newspapers in circulation
(excluding tabloids). These newspapers include: BULLETIN, TEMPO, BALITA, MALAY,
MIDDAY, MASA, MANILA TIMES, NEWS HERALD, TRIBUNE, NGAYON,
INQUIRER, EXPRESS TONIGHT, EVENING POST, PEOPLE’S, DAILY MIRROR,
BUSINESS DAY, and MANILA CHRONICLE. 2. On Books: Philippine literature is still in
the making…we are just beginning a new era. 

The Phillippine revolution of 1986 and the fire of its spirit that will carry the Filipinos
through another epoch in Philippine history is still being documented just as they have been
in the countless millions who participated in body and spirit in its realization. Two books
were conceived during the period. PEOPLE POWER was produced under a grant by the PCI
Bank Human Resources Development Foundation, edited by Monina Allarey Mercado and
published by the James B. Reuter, S.J. Foundation. 

Another one BAYAN KO was published by Project 28 Days LTD. in June, 1986 in Kowloon,
Hong Kong and co-published in the Philippines by Veritas Publications and Communications
Foundation. In March 19, 1987 the Seventh National Book Awards cited several best books
published in 1987 according to the choices made by the Manila Critics Circle. Among those
awarded were: Dreamweavers Selected Poems (1976- 1986) by Marjorie Pernia and Awit at
Corrido: Philippine Metrical Romances by Damiana L. Eugenio. 
Bookfair Manila ’88 organized by the Philippine Exhibit Company was held on February 20-
28, 1988. It was held with the belief that “requisition of knowledge not only enhances
individual skills and capabilities but more importantly, makes positive contributions to the
nation’s development program.” B. FILIPINO SONGS DURING THIS PERIOD Here are a
few Filipino songs that were often heard. They were often aired in radio and television and
often accompanied the historical events that transpired in the Philippines and gained for the
Filipinos world-wide acclaim. 

An album named HANDOG NG PILIPINO SA MUNDO carried a compilation of some of

these. The song that continued to be sung throughout the trying period of the Revolution,
almost like a second national anthem and which gave fire to the Filipino spirit was BAYAN
KO. Its lyrics were written by Jose Corazon de Jesus way back in 1928. 

Activity 2: Access the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUi770t2y8A

About the Song:

Songwriter Jim Paredes wrote the song in three minutes, with no revisions, using the
success of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution as his inspiration. After finishing the
composition, he sent it to WEA Records, who at that time is compiling an album of
patriotic songs. The song eventually became its carrier single. [1][2] The song was then
performed by artists who became actively involved during the People Power Revolution.
An English version of this song was also made entitled "A New and Better Way - The
People's Anthem", released in Australia and the United Kingdom. Both the original and
English version were released as singles, with the proceeds to be donated for the
rehabilitation of DZRV, which its main transmitter was destroyed by Marcos' troops while
covering the events of the EDSA Revolution.[3]
The English version of the single includes a letter from Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal
Sin.[3]
A music video was also made for the song made by director Mike de Leon. Kris Aquino,
then a teenager, also appeared in the music video, together with the artists that rendered the
song. National heroes since the Spanish period like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio,
prominent anti-Marcos figures and scenes from the revolution were also featured. [2] The
video was removed by censors shortly after it aired in television as the video containing
crowds battering pictures of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos might be "too strong" to the
public.[4] The music video reappeared decades after through the Filipino music
channel Myx and was uploaded in YouTube under Jim Paredes' account.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handog_ng_Pilipino_sa_Mundo

At this point, you must have a good background of the period. Of course, there’s more about
this period that’s important for you to learn. Keep on singing the song, but you have to
proceed.

Topic 2: Sample Works During the Period

Objectives:
1. Recognized some writers and their works from 1986 to the present;
2. Read, discuss, and appreciate the literary works of Filipino writers.
Activating Prior Knowledge

Reading and Understanding Poetry

To understand a poem, you need to understand the poem’s meaning and organization. As
you read and reread the poem, study the following:

1. The Title. The title is almost always informative. For example, the poem “The Song
of a Tear-gassed Man” indicates both indicates both subject and circumstance.

2. The Speaker or Persona. Poems are dramatic, having points of view just like prose
fiction. First-person speakers talk from the inside “inside” because they are directly
involved in the action in the poem. Other speakers are ‘outside’ observers, like the
third-person limited point of view in which the author confines or limits attention to a
major character.

3. Meanings of all words (familiar or unfamiliar). The words in many poems may
contain unfamiliar words that need looking up. You will need to consult dictionaries,
encyclopedia, word web, etc. until you gain a fairly good grasp of the poem’s content.

4. Setting and situation. Some poems establish their setting and circumstances vividly.
Not all poems are so clear, you should learn as much as you can about setting and
situation in every poem you read.

5. Basic format and development. Poems maybe in a form of narrative, personal

statements or speeches to another person. They maybe in sonnet form, or may contain
stanzas, each of which is unified by a particular action or thought. Try to determine
the form and to trace the way in which the poem unfolds, part by part.

6. Subject and theme. The subject indicates the general or specific topic, while the
theme refers to the idea or ideas that the poem explores. However, you must usually
infer a theme

Activity 1:

On the left is a list of poems and stories. What do these titles suggest? Select from the best
answers on the right column. Write the letter of your answer on the space provided before
each number.

_____ 1. Walking Home a. Describes a home

_____ 2. Slave woman of Tarlac b. Narrates significant events in the family
_____ 3. Family Reunion c. Tells about some learnings and accounts
about being young
_____ 4. The Gods We Worship Live Next d. Brings out significant experiences on
Door on one’s way home
_____ 5. The Witch e. Talks about an oppression
_____ 6. Footnote to Youth f. Talks about femininity
_____ 7. Mostly I Was g. Relates a personal complaint
_____ 8. Peace of the World h. Speaks of harmony and justice in the

_____ 9. Sickly Rose
_____ 10. What Matters Most
universe
i. Describes the rich and the powerful
in comparison to people in humbler
circumstances
j. Gives importance to attributes that one
treasures
k. Relates and describes a character who may
have been prejudged as different

Did you get them all right? Very good.

Presentation of Content

A. Poetry

1. The Song of A Tear-gassed Man by Cirilo F. Bautista

CIRILO F. BAUTISTA

The Author: Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional
achievements and significant contributions to the development of the country’s literary arts.
He is acknowledged by peers and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of his
generation.

Throughout his career that spans more than four decades, he has established a reputation for
fine and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and creative writing
workshops continue to influence his peers and generations of young writers.

As a way of bringing poetry and fiction closer to the people who otherwise would not have
the opportunity to develop their creative talent, Bautista has been holding regular funded and
unfunded workshops throughout the country. In his campus lecture circuits, Bautista has
updated students and student-writers on literary developments and techniques.

As a teacher of literature, Bautista has realized that the classroom is an important training
ground for Filipino writers. In De La Salle University, he was instrumental in the formation
of the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center. He was also the moving spirit behind the
founding of the Philippine Literary Arts Council in 1981, the Iligan National Writers
Workshop in 1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.

Thus, Bautista continues to contribute to the development of Philippine literature: as a writer,

through his significant body of works; as a teacher, through his discovery and encouragement
of young writers in workshops and lectures; and as a critic, through his essays that provide
insights into the craft of writing and correctives to misconceptions about art.

Song Of A Tear-gassed Man

I love it! I love it! I love it!

This teargas sanctifies my corrupted soul
Ah! The Divine odor of it, the excitement
Better than demos or rock and roll
‘Get a load of it, brothers, while it’s free,
you may never get another chance
this is the right stuff, the real McCoy,
pure, imported chemicals from France’
We may not have money in the bank
no food on the table, no seat on the love bus
but we have secret marshals and policemen,
and most of all, we have a lot of teargas
Get a load of it, brothers, while it’s free,
You may never get another chance
This is the right stuff, the real McCoy,
Pure, imported chemicals from France’
We may not have houses and running water
The taxmen maybe running after us
But we have floods and garbage, Amendment 6,
And most of all, we have a lot of teargas
‘Get a load of it, brothers, while it’s free,
you may never get another chance
this is the right stuff, the real McCoy,
pure, imported chemicals from France’
Don’t save your tears, brothers, they are meant
To be shed, you cannot turn them into cash
But if you join me in this marshal festival
You’ll get a taste of refreshing teargas
‘Get a load of it, brothers, while it’s free,
you may never get another chance
this is the right stuff, the real McCoy,
pure, imported chemical from France’
we may all be poor, we may all be sick
we may not know what the future holds for us
but we should not despair, we should not complain
for, after all, we have a lot of teargas
‘Get a load of it, brothers, while it’s free
 you may never get another chance
this is the right stuff, the real McCoy,
pure, imported chemicals from France’

(http://wsosapercu.blogspot.com/2010/08/song-of-tear-gassed-man-by-cirilio-f.html)

Comprehension Questions:

1. Where and when does the story take place?

2. Can you picture what the author is trying to say?
3. What does the author wish to convey with his mention of secret marshals and
policemen, a martial festival, 6th Amendment?
4. What is the 6th Amendment of the Constitution?
5. Does the poem have economic underpinning? In which line or stanza do you find
this?
6. What does the teargas symbolize?

Activity 2:

The themes of the poem revolve around class structures, materialism, and marginalization.
These times are all behind us now. But who’s to say there won’t be something like this
again? Now, write a poem of similar theme. What symbolism (like the teargas) are you
going to use? Put your ideas in the box below.
 2. Overseas Filipino Worker by Eva S.E. Aranas, M.D. Region 11, Davao City

The Author: Eva E.S. Aranas was born and raised in Davao City. She started writing poetry
and fiction at a young age. “Overseas Filipino Worker” was published in the Philippine Free
Press on April 26, 1997. Dr. Aranas is a fellow at the Geriatic Center, St. Lukes Medical
Center, Cathedral Heights, Quezon City.

Overseas Filipino Worker

After a graceful glissade

or a tap dance of a touch down
I am regurgitated through the slit
of the plane’s aluminum skin.
I have to smother the urge to bend
and kiss the ground on which

Tourists, in cluster ruminate,

drop a condescending line or two,
perorate, timorous, half-amused
while the businessman, late from a
meeting, panic like pedestrians
to an awning after a gentle rain.

I, with my backpack always turn

to look back, chilled by whispered
resonances of whittled whipcracks.

Behind me are traceries of

things that define my identity
or lack of it anyway: my diary,
my luminous plastic rosary, pamphlet
of Nuestra Senora de la Paz y
Buenviaje. Letters executed in
Black ink. Yellowed photographs of
mute toothy smiles left behind in a
dog-eared home. Thy wind ruefully
like camp trails. Or an ubiquitous tail.

But while the paths are flower strewn,

 The suntanned leaves are jigsaw puzzle
pieces of me, that the street cleaner
scoops and sweeps into a heap, throws
away from the cobblestoned, stone cold
city streets that keep no memory of me.

Patron, I. Y. (2002) Interactive reading, responding to and writing about Philippine

Literature. Great Books Trading, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City.

Comprehension Questions;

1. Who is the speaker in the poem?

2. What is the occasion?
3. What is the setting in time and place?
4. What is the central purpose of the poem?
5. By what means is the purpose achieved?
6. Evaluate the poem in the light of the present situation of women as OFWs?

Activity 3:

Read the poem in the following link.

https://whatisliterature001.blogspot.com/2018/11/lullaby-for-amira.html

1. Compare the poem Overseas Filipino Worker and Lullaby for Amira.

2. Write a friend or a relative a letter of hope and encouragement or an expression of

how you miss him/her and how you want him/her back soon.

__________________
__________________,

Sincerely,
 -----------------------------

3. Sampaguita Song by Marjorie Evasco

The Author: Marjorie Evasco finished her MA in Creative Writing at Siliman University.
She moved to Manila and is now an Associate Professor of literature at DLSU. Dream
Weavers (1988) is a collection of her poems. She is co-editor of a bilingual anthology in love
poems by Filipino women. Kung Ibig Mo (1993) and co-writer with Edna Zapanta-Manlapaz
of Inter/Views, a collection of interview essays with six women-writers.