21ST CENTURY

LITERATURE OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

PERIODS OF THE PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

PRE - COLONIAL PERIOD

ORAL LITERATURE
 RIDDLES (BUGTONG)
BATTLE OF WITS AMONG PARTICIPANTS.
 PROVERBS (SALAWIKAIN)
WISE SAYINGS THAT CONTAIN A METAPHOR USED TO TEACH AS A
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
 TANAGA
ONE STANZA POEMS CONSISTED USUALLY FOUR LINES WITH SEVEN
SYLLABLES, ALL LINES RHYMING.
FOLK SONGS
ONE OF THE OLDEST FORM OF PHILIPPINE LIT. THAT EMERGED IN THE
PRE- SPANISH PERIOD. LYRICS THAT ARE USUALLY CHANTED.

 HELE OR OYAYI - LULLABY

 RITDAWIT - DRINKING SONGS
 KUNDIMAN - AWIT PAG IBIG.
 SONGS OF DEATH/DUNG - AW - AWIT SA MGA PATAY.
 DALIT/HIMNO - RELIGIOUS SONGS.
 KUMINTANG - AWIT SA PAKIKIPAGDIGMA.
 DIONA - AWIT SA KASAL.
FALK TALES
ORIGINATED IN THE ERA BEFORE LITERACY AND PASSED DOWN VERBALLY
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
A. MYTH
A WELL KNOWN STORY WHICH WAS MADE UP IN THE PAST TO
EXPLAIN NATURAL EVENTS OR JUSTIFY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR
CUSTOMS.
B. LEGEND
A TRADITIONAL STORY THAT IS POPULARLY REGARDED AS
HISTORICAL BUT IS NOT PROVEN TO BE TRUE.
C. FABLE
USES ANIMALS AS CHARACTERS CONVEYING A MORAL.
D. EPIC
A LONG NARRATIVE POEM RECOUNTING RGE DEEDS OF A
LEGENDARY HERO.

SPANISH PERIOD

RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
A. PASYON
IT IS ABOUT THE PASSION AND SUFFERING AND ALSO DEATH OF
JESUS CHRIST.
B. SENAKULO
THE RE-ENCHANTMENT OF PASYON. DRAMATIZATION OF PASYON.
NON-RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
 A. AWIT
TALES OF CHIVALRY WHERE A KNIGHT SAVES A PRINCESS.
B. KORIDO
METRICAL TALE THAT FOLLOWS THE STRUCTURE OF THE POEM
C. PROSE
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

AMERICAN PERIOD

 PHILIPPINE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM WAS INTRODUCED.

 FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION WAS GIVEN TO FILIPINOS.

 INTRODUCED THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.

 THOMASITES - AMERICAN SHOUODIERS WHO CSME TO THE PHILIPPINES AND
BECOME TEACHERS.
 WRITERS ENJOYED THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
 FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE.

JAPANESE PERIOD

 ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS FORBIDDEN.

 FILIPINO LANGUAGE WAS MANDATED UNDER THE JAPANESE RULE.
 THEMES: NATIONALISM, LOVE, LIFE IN THE BARIOS, FAITH, RELIGIONS AND
ARTS.

NATIONAL ARTIST IN LITERATURE

Francisco Sionil José (December 3, 1924 – January 6, 2022) was a Filipino writer
who was one of the most widely read in the English language . A National Artist of
the Philippines for Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José's novels
and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in
Filipino society. His works—written in English—have been translated into 28
languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and
Dutch. He was often considered the leading Filipino candidate for the Nobel Prize in
Literature.

Alejandro Reyes Roces (13 July 1924 – 23 May 2011) was a Filipino author,
essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for literature. He served as
Secretary of Education from 1962 to 1965, during the term of Philippine President
Diosdado Macapagal.

Noted for his short stories, the Manila-born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola
(granddaughter of Maximo Viola), with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Roces-
Pedrosa.

He attended elementary and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University, before
moving to the University of Arizona and then Arizona State University for his tertiary
education. He graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his
M.A. from the Far Eastern University back in the Philippines. He has since received
honorary doctorates from Toyo University,Baguio's St. Louis University, Polytechnic
University of the Philippines, and the Ateneo de Manila University. Roces was a
captain in the Marking's Guerilla during World War II and a columnist in Philippine
dailies such as the Manila Chronicle and the Manila Times. He was previously
President of the Manila Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation.

In 2001, Roces was appointed as Chairman of the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board (MTRCB). Roces also became a member of the Board of Trustees
of GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) and maintained a column in the
Philippine Star called Roses and Thorns.

Virgilio Senadren Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name
Rio Alma, is a Filipino author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural
manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly served as the
chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency
mandated to promote and standardize the use of the Filipino language. On January
5, 2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Bienvenido L. Lumbera (April 11, 1932 – September 28, 2021) was a Filipino poet,
critic and dramatist. Lumbera is known for his nationalist writing and for his leading
role in the Filipinization movement in Philippine literature in the 1960s, which
resulted in his being one of the many writers and academics jailed during Ferdinand
Marcos' Martial Law regime. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications in 1993, and was proclaimed a
National Artist of the Philippines for literature in 2006. As an academic, he is
recognized for his key role in elevating the field of study which would become known
as Philippine Studies.

Among numerous other literary awards he has won include the National Book
Awards from the National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial
Awards.

Lazaro Francisco was born on February 22, 1898, to Eulogio Francisco and Clara
Angeles, in Orani, Bataan. He spent his childhood years in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.
He took his college education at the Central Luzon Agricultural College (now Central
Luzon State University), but was not able to finish due to poverty. He became a
messenger of the Provincial Treasurer's Office of Nueva Ecija. Later on, he took third
degree civil service examination where he qualified to become an assessor of the
provincial government of Nueva Ecija.

He started writing in 1925, with five of his novels took him to fame. Being an
assessor in an agricultural province, most of his writings were focused on small
farmers and their current conditions with foreign businessmen. This lead him to win
separate awards from Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940 and 1946, for his
masterpieces, Singsing na Pangkasal and Tatsulok, respectively.

In 1958, he established the Kapatiran ng mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino, roughly

translated as "Brotherhood of the Disciples of the Filipino Language", a society that
campaigned the use of Tagalog as the national language of the Philippines.

He received other distinguished awards and accolades in literature in his lifetime,

including the Balagtas Award (1969), the Republic Cultural Heritage Award (1970)
and the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the government of Manila.
In 2009, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo awarded the National Artist of the
Philippines for Literature to Francisco, posthumously, for his significant contribution
to Philippine literature.

Cirilo F. Bautista (July 9, 1941 – May 6, 2018) was a Filipino poet, critic and writer
of nonfiction. A National Artist of the Philippines award was conferred on him in
2014.
Bautista was born in Manila on July 9, 1941, and spent his childhood in Balic-Balic,
Sampaloc.

He received his basic education from Legarda Elementary School (1st Honorable
Mention, 1954) and Victorino Mapa High School (Valedictorian, 1959). He received
his degrees in AB Literature from the University of Santo Tomas (magna cum laude,
1963), MA Literature from St. Louis University, Baguio (magna cum laude, 1968),
and Doctor of Arts in Language and Literature from De La Salle University-Manila
(1990). He received a fellowship to attend the International Writing Program at the
University of Iowa (1968–1969).

Regional Literature

Introduction

"Literature is the mirror of life." In Philippine literature, the works of the regional
writers are not just a form of self expression, but a reflection of their culture. They
give their readers a view of their way of living through the themes of their writings.
It is an expression of their identity that provides a deeper understanding of the
characteristics of the people and forces that shaped their lives.

Tagalog Literature

The literary tradition in the Tagalog region originally follows the field of the
ancient oral literature. Literary writers wrote in verse, maxims and proverbs.
During the rise of Tagalog literature, versification was shown not only in verses but
also in drama. Drama plays were staged in open spaces such as in the
houses of the nobles and in the places of worship. With the accompaniment of
music, most of the plays dealt with love, war and heroes. Meanwhile, the first
printing press was established in Manila during the Spanish regime. In
1593, it gave way to the publication of the first book in the Philippines "The
Doctrina Christiana."

Karagatan, on the other hand, which is a sort of debate in verse involving men
and women, was developed under the Spaniards into duplo. However in 1924, the
term duplo was developed into balagtasan under the American occupation.

The purpose of Tagalog literary writers in the development of Tagalog literature is to

promote national consciousness of the Filipinos all over the Philippines.
Through their works, they were promoting the regional identity of Tagalog literature.

writers include: Aurelio Tolentino, Amado V. Hernandez and Lope K. Santos

who was known as the "Father of the Philippine National Language and
Grammar. "These Tagalog writers do not just use their gifted minds to write their
nationalistic views but also to introduce the beliefs and culture of their region
to the readers.

Nowadays, new sets of Tagalog writers are born but the legacy in which our late
prominent writers built are continuing its role in the historical development of the
regional literature.

Ilocano Literature

Known to be active in producing colorful literary writings, Ilocano literature is

rich in many kinds of song sung in different occasions. They have war songs
which express vigor and joy of the soldiers and warriors before coming to a
battle; on the other hand, dallot is an impromptu poem meant to be recited
through singing. It was very popular among the peasants and was sung in special
occasions such as baptismal parties, weddings and feasts. Their form of love song
is called badeng, which is sung during a serenade. Pamulinawen was the most
famous badeng of Ilocano literature. The song expresses a longing for a
loved one whom the serenade had cast his fate.

Though Ilocano literature is naturally lyrical in form, Ilocano writers also sustained
poetry. They had "Biag ni Lam-ang", whose origins dated before the coming
of the Spaniards. Some of the great Ilocano authors were: Isabelo de Leon
who was considered as "The Father of the Philippine Folklore", Leona
Florentino who was addressed as "The Mother of Philippine Women's
Literature", Pedro Bucaneg who was known to be "The Father of Ilocano
Literature", and Manuel Arguilla who wrote the anthology "How My Brother
Leon Brought Home a Wife" and was executed due to organizing a secret guerilla
unit against the Japanese during their occupation in the country.

At present, Ilocano writers are still writing and publishing works not only in the
Philippines but also in other countries. They succeed in other forms of literature not
just in lyrical poetry. Ilocano writers are also known for bagging numerous
awards for Literature in the Palanca Awards, which is known to be a
prestigious award-giving body for the contribution of the Filipino writers in
the field of literature.

Hiligaynon Literature

Visayan culture and tradition became the inspiration of the Hiligaynon writers in
most of their writings. The traditional form of oral literature such as riddles,
proverbs and ritual chants paved their way in developing other genres of
literature like songs and other literary forms of prose. Hiligaynon was known
to be the land of beautiful songs and chants. Folk songs include: ili-ili or
lullaby, it is a cradled song played and sung to develop communication
skills to children; ambahan which is a traditional poetic expression of a
syllabic script; siday which is a long poem delivered by two poets
representing two families before marriage; and balitaw which is meant to
be a love song delivered by a man and a woman in exchanging manner in a
manner of a debate.

Writers continued writing articles and literary works explaining the meanings
and values of the influential colonization of Americans in the country.
Themes talking about love, freedom and religion captured the heart of
Cebuano writers.

In 1991, Ernesto Lariosa, received a grant from the Cultural Center of the
Philippines for introducing social, sense, sound and story in Cebuano
poetry. He uses strong metaphors in his poems and other writings.

Maranao Literature

Maranao literature is largely floating and meant to be sung on different

occasions. It is greatly influenced by Islam as their religion. It follows the oral
tradition such as: Folktale (tutul), love poems (tubad- tubad), sayings and
proverbs (pananaro-on), drama (sowa-i) riddles (antoka) and epic poetry
(darangan).

The muslim cultural community greatly affects the region's literary style and form.
Since most of the literary forms of Maranao literature were meant to be recited, the
community portrays a big role in the development of the regional literature. The
audience participates through reacting, listening, and retelling the story. Their
literary works were in form of oral literature passed down through different
generations.