Lucky Boy C.

Galang

2-BEED-A

Introduction

A literary work is a product of its time. It is as old as its country’s history. It provides a context of
background such as the social conditions, political developments,religious ideas, and practices
necessary for a reader to understand how literary work reflect ideas and attitudes of the time in
which the work was written. Philippine literature has gone through definable periods.
Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards (1565-1898) for about 333 years, by the Americans
(1899-1902) for 48 years. Later, World War II broke out and the Japanese (1942-
1945)occupied the Philippines for three years.Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first
period of the Philippine literary history is the longest. Certain events from the nation’s history
had forced lowland Filipinos to begin counting the years of history from 1521, the first time
written records by Westerners referred to the archipelago later to be called “Las islas Filipinas”.
However, the discovery of the “Tabon Man” in a cave in Palawan in 1962, has allowed us to
stretch our prehistory as far as 50,000 years back. The stages of that prehistory show how the
early Filipinos grew in control over their environment. Through the researches and writings
about Philippine history, much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine literature
from an analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their
indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial administrators.The oral
literature of the precolonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. The subject was
invariably the common experience of the people constituting the village-food-gathering,
creature and objects of nature, work in the home, field, forest or sea, caring for children, etc.
This is evident in the most common forms of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs and the
song, which always seem to assume that the audience is familiar with the situations, activities
and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion. The language of oral
literature, unless the piece was part of the cultural heritage of the community like the epic, was
the language of daily life.

Pre-Colonial Establishment
A “three-class social structure” held up pre-colonial Philippine society; the Nobility
(Maginoo, Lakan, and Datu), the Freemen (Timawa and Maharlika), and the Alipin (Namamahay
and Gigilid) are the classifications of Filipinos in the Philippine society during these times (Pre-
Colonial Manila, 2023). Filipinos during this era relied on feudal ways of living in a fixed
territory. The lowland peoples were grouped together by extended kinship and lived in barangays,
each headed by a datu, or chieftain. The barangay was typically the biggest stable economic and
political unit, with an average population of only a few hundred people (History of the
Philippines, 2023). Thus, it can be ascertained that while limited cooperation exists between
different barangays—Philippines during this time is still very fragmented, driven by individual
datus and their personal interests.
Barter was used in commerce between the early Filipinos and traders from nearby
countries like China, Java, Borneo, and Thailand long before the Spanish arrived in the
Philippines (Coins and Notes – History of Philippine Money, n.d.). This led to the accumulation
of wealth by the individual datus, and other elites in the early Filipino society.
 According to Glavin (2018), the majority of children in pre-colonial times received only
occupational training under the supervision of their parents, tribal tutors, or those designated to
fill certain, specialized positions in their communities (like the babaylan). Stories, music, poems,
dances, healing techniques, and counsel on a wide range of matters pertaining to communal life
were often transmitted orally among generations.
Colonial Development
A growing body of research suggests that colonial Christian missions improved human
capital in ways that still exist today by bringing education to the colonies. But they went above
and above in several places. Catholic colonial missions in the Philippines served as state builders,
instituting law and order and developing the economies and infrastructure of the areas under their
jurisdiction. The Spanish colonial administration and the Catholic missions struck a deal that
resulted in the creation of the mission-as-state: the colonial authority stayed in the capital while
missionaries converted the populace and built the state (Dulay, 2022). Furthermore, long-term
gains in state capability and development resulted from exposure to these Catholic missions as
states. Spain does not differ in its stance on this matter concerning its colony of the Philippines.
The Spanish have experienced every phase of the challenge of implementing a universal
education system throughout the community (Panarina, 2022).
During the American Colonization of the Philippines, that stemmed from the Treaty of
Paris (1898) between the United States of America and Spain, numerous reforms were put into
motion, particularly that of the educational sector. According to Panarina (2022), this meant four
things: first, the education system, which was heavily reliant on the Catholic Church during the
Spanish colonization, had to be secularized; second, truly universal education had to be
introduced for all social classes, starting at the primary school level; third, there had to be no
restrictions on the availability of education, meaning that it had to be free for all; and fourth,
English had to be widely used.
The Philippines has seen a variety of official political party systems excluding the
nonexistent Filipino engagement in policymaking during the Spanish colonial era. This
particularly delves to the predominant party system during the American colonial era during the
1900–1935 (Teehankee, 2020).
Party politics in the Philippines were founded during American colonial control. The
clientelist relationships between the American colonial benefactors and the Filipino politicians
served as the foundation for it. As was typical of most colonial governments, the Americans used
a form of indirect government that relied on trusted local clientele. An American colonial
official's ability to develop and influence competent local clients in carrying out American plans
was a key indicator of their success. As a result, as the Filipino elites vie for colonial largesse, the
early political parties became the scene of factional infighting (Paredes, 1989: Teehankee, 2020).

The Second World War broke out. Early in December 1941, the Japanese launched a
surprise invasion of the Philippines in a bid to control much of Asia to force the US into an
unequal war; this marks the start of their armed control of the islands. According to Panarina
(2022), the Japanese educational system placed a strong focus on elevating Filipino culture
proper (as opposed to anything Western) and on respecting and loving one's job. Furthermore, the
standard language for teaching during this era was reverted to Tagalog. The entirety of the
Filipinos was forced to live out the strict disciplinary measures of the Japanese occupiers—failure
to do so would lead to harsh quotas/punishments.
Post-Colonial Continuity
The serious issues that the post-war Philippine Commonwealth faced were not foreseen
before to the conflict. The final months of the Philippine Commonwealth government were
occupied with land reform, school re-openings, reconstruction, veteran recognition and
compensation, trials of alleged Japanese collaborators, economic revival, trade restoration, and
investment attraction, among other issues (The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 2021).
Alas, this is the era of an independent nation; formed upon the lessons learned from the past.
According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the Philippines is a democratic and
republican nation with a presidential system of government (United Nations, n.d.). Today, one of
the most vibrant economies in East Asia and the Pacific has been that of the Philippines. The
Philippines has a big and youthful population, a growing middle class, and rapid urbanization.
The country's economic vitality is based on strong consumer demand, which is reinforced by a
thriving labor market and substantial remittances (World Bank, 2023). In addition to that, the
Philippine education system of today is striving to be amongst the best in the world through its
numerous reforms.

References.

Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). (n.d.). Coins and Notes - History of Philippine Money. Banko
Sentral ng Pilipinas.
https://www.bsp.gov.ph/Pages/CoinsAndNotes/HistoryOfPhilippineMoney/
HistoryOfPhilippineMoney.aspx#:~:text=Long%20before%20the%20Spaniards
%20came,of%20exchange%20%E2%80%93%20the%20cowry%20shells.

Dulay, D. (2022). The search for spices and souls: Catholic missions as Colonial State in the
Philippines. Comparative Political Studies, 55(12), 2050–2085.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140211066222

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, December 27). History of the Philippines. Encyclopædia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Philippines

Glavin, C. (2018, February 12). History of education in the Philippines. History of Education in
the Philippines | K12 Academics. https://www.k12academics.com/Education
%20Worldwide/Education%20in%20the%20Philippines/history-education-philippines
Panarina D.S. Essays on History: The Education System of the Philippines under the Americans
and Japanese Southeast Asia: Actual Development Problems, 2022, Vol. 3, no. 3 (56). Pp.
236–255. DOI: 10.31696/2072-8271-2022-3-3-56-236-255

Pre-colonial Manila. Presidential Museum and Library. (2023).

https://web.archive.org/web/20211222090232/http://malacanang.gov.ph/75832-pre-
colonial-manila/

Teehankee, J. C. (2020). Factional Dynamics in Philippine Party Politics, 1900–2019. Journal of

Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 39(1), 98-123.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1868103420913404
The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. (2021, July 2). July 4, 1946: The Philippines gained
independence from the United States: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans. The
National WWII Museum | New Orleans.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/july-4-1946-philippines-independence
United Nations. (n.d.). Permanent mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the United
Nations. The Philippines at a Glance | Philippines.
https://www.un.int/philippines/philippines/philippines-glance