Philippine Literature During

the Spanish Period

Spanish influences on the
Philippine Literature
1.ALIBATA
2. Christian Doctrine
3. Spanish language became the literary
language this time
4. European legends and traditions
5. Ancient literature was collected and
translated to Tagalog
6. Grammar books were printed in Filipino
7. Religious tone
 The First Books
1.Ang Doctrina Cristiana (The Christian
Doctrine)
2.Nuestra Senora del Rosario
3.Libro de los Cuatro Postprimeras de Hombre
4.Ang Barlaan at Josephat
5.The Pasion
6.Urbana at Felisa
7.Ang mga Dalit kay Maria (Psalms for Mary)
LITERARY COMPOSITIONS
1. Arte y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala
(Art and Rules of the Tagalog language)
2. Compendio de la Lengua Tagala
(Understanding the Tagalog language)
3. Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala
(Tagalog vocabulary)
4. Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampanga
(Pampango vocabulary)
5. Vocabulario de la Lengua Bisaya
(Bisayan vocabulary)
6. Arte de la Lengua Ilokana
(The Art of the Ilocano language)
7. Arte de la Lengua Bicolana
(The Art of the Bicol Language)
 FOLK SONGS
Leron-Leron Sinta (Tagalog)
Pamulinawen (Iloko)
Dandansoy (Bisaya)
Sarong Banggi (Bicol)
Atin Cu Pung Singsing (Kapampangan)
 RECREATIONAL PLAYS
There were many recreational
plays performed by Filipinos
during the Spanish times. Almost
all of them were in poetic form.
CENAKULO -Dramatic performance of the
passion and death of Christ

ZARZUELA -The father of drama, a musical

comedy or melodrama three acts which death
with men’s passion and emotions like love, hate,
revenge, cruelty , avarice or some political
problem.

LAGAYLAY -A special occasion for the

pilareños of sorsogon during maytime to get
together
TIBAG -Dramatic performance for the purpose of
manifesting devotion for the holy cross.
PANULUYAN -Philippine Christmas dramatic
ritual narrating the whole family’s search for a
place to stay in Bethlehem for Jesus Christ‘s birth
through songs.
SALUBONG- Dramatizes the reunion of the
risen Christ and his mother.
CARILLO -A form of dramatic entertainment
perform on a moonless night during a town fiesta
or on dark nights after a harvest.
SAINETE -A short musical comedy popular
during the 18th century. They were exaggerated
comedy shown between acts plays and were
mostly performed by characters from the lower
class.
THE MORO-MORO -Like the Cenaculo, the
Moro-Moro is presented also on a special stage.
This is performed during town fiestas to
entertain the people and to remind them of their
Christian religion. Example: “Prinsipe Rodante”
KARAGATAN -This is a poetic vehicle of a
socio- religious nature celebrated during the
death of a person.
DUPLO -The Duplo replaced the Karagatan. This
is a poetic joust in speaking and reasoning.
THE BALAGTASAN -This is a poetic joust or a
contest of skills in debate on a particular topic or
issue
THE DUNG-AW
- This is a chant in free verse by a bereaved person
or his representative beside the corpse of the dead.
AWIT - is in dodecasyllabic verse.
- are fabricated stories from writers’ imagination
although the setting and characters are European.
- refers to chanting.
Example: Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas
CORRIDO -is in octosyllabic verse were usually on
legends or stories from European countries like
France, Spain, Italy and Greece. Refers to narration.
Example: Ibong Adarna by Jose de la Cruz
Pre-Spanish Period
 Long before the arrival of the Spaniards,
ancient Filipinos were living in scattered
barangays and ruled by different chieftains.

 Although, they were living separately, they

were similar in many ways, their religion, mode
of dressing, houses, system of government and
marriage practices and economic activities, in
short, they wee refined and civilized; they
possessed a distinct culture that distinguish
them from other race .
 Government
 The government was called “Barangay”.
 There was no national government. There
were many independent Barangays and Datus.
But there was no Datu strong enough to unite
the archipelago into one nation. Some
barangays, however, united to form a
confederation.
 It was headed by a ruler called Datu or Raja.
 Trial and Determination of Guilt
• Judicial process was influenced by religion. The manner of
determining guilt of the accused showed the religiosity of
the natives.
• They waited for the intervention of the deities.
• Their judicial process was called trial by ordeal, example;
- Holding lighted candles by the suspected offenders. The
man whole candle died out first would be declared as the
culprit.
- Another form of this trial was ordering the suspects to
plunge into deep river with their lances. The first come to
the surface would bead judged as the guilty party.
• Datu served as chief judge who was assisted by group of
elders in the barangay that acted as members of the jury.
 Courtship and Marriage
 The man was required to give a dowry.“Bigay-kaya”
-was the type of dowry consisted of a piece of land or gold. The
groom’s parent gave a gift called “panghimuyat”.“himaraw”
-was another payment for raising the future bride during her
infancy period, to be paid by the groom’s parent also.
Including the bride’s wet nurse received a share of dowry; it
was called “bigay-suso”.
 Mixed marriage, that was marriage between couples
belonging to different social classes were not common. Early
Filipinos practiced divorce.
 Several grounds of divorce were:
1. Adultery
2. Abandonment on the part of the husband
3. Cruelty
4. And insanity
 Religious Beliefs
• Before Roman Catholism and Islam were
introduced, natives worshipped many gods and
goddesses.
Bathala – supreme being
Idiyanale – god of agriculture
Sidapa – god of death
Agni – god of fire
Balangaw – god of rainbow
Mandarangan – god of war
Lalahon – god of harvest
Siginarugan – god of hell
• They also believed in the immortality of souls
and life after death.
• There were sacred animals, which they
venerate like white monkey (manaul) and
crocodiles.
• There were also sacred place and sacred trees,
which nobody was allowed to cut down.
• They also worshipped the sun and the moon.
• Regular sacrifices and prayers were offered to
placate deities and spirits. Reward and
punishment after death was dependent upon
behavior in this life.
 Superstitious Beliefs
• Natives believed in;
 aswang (witch)
 dwende (tiny creatures like humans)
 kapre (tall and apelike creatures smoking
cigarettes, usuallyfound on trees.
mangkukulam (an old lady capable of harming
others usinga doll and a pin)
 tikbalang (half-man and half-horse creature)
 tiyanak (a baby that sucks blood on human.
 They also believed in magical power of amulets
and charmssuch as anting-anting, kulam and the
use of gayuma or love potion.
 Aswang, Dwende, Kapre
,Mangkukulam ,Tikbalang
,Tiyanak
 Ornaments
 The natives wore ornament made of gold and
precious stones. Women including men wore
armlet , leg lets, bracelets, gold rings and
earring. Putting tattoos in their body was
practiced.
 Males having many tattoos were admired
because it signified bravery in war. They also
inserted gold between their teeth as an
ornament.
 Education
• To transmit knowledge, it was acquired through
observation , imitation and practice. There was
no formal education during pre-Spanish period.
Children were taught to read and write by their
parents. It was fair to say that they were literate.
• The purpose of education during their time was
for survival. Their father on hunting animals
taught males, fishing , agriculture and other
economic activities while their mothers in
managing the household taught females.
 Economic life
• Domestic trade of different barangays from
different regions and islands were made
possible using boats.
• Foreign trade was carried on with countries
like Borneo, China, Japan, Cambodia, Java and
Siam(Thailand).
• Other means of livelihood were ship building ,
weaving, poultry raising, mining, weaving and
lumbering.
MUSIC
• Natives were without a doubt, music lovers. Each
community had their own sets of musical instrument.
In the account of Pigafetta, the official historian of
Magellan expedition, women from Cebu were
harmoniously playing;
- cymbals (plantiles)
-nose flutes, bamboo mouth organs (aphiw)
-brass gong (gansa)
- flute (bansic)
- long drum (colibao)
- bamboo harp (subing)
- water whistle (paiyak)
- guitar (bugtot)
- xylophone (agong)
- drum (tugo)
 DANCE

• The most ancient dances could be traced to

the war dance in order to incite the “warlike”
enthusiasm of the natives.
• They danced primarily to please their gods,
anitos and the spirit who it was believed, were
always jealous of the action of the natives.
• Their dance could be described as the
pantomimes today.
• They also danced during festivals and other
merry-making occasions.
 Eight are considered major languages, namely:
-Tagalog -Ilocos
-Pangasinan -Pampangan
-Sugbuhanon -Hiligaynon
-Magindanaw -Samarnon
 They also had their system of writing. The
ancient Filipinos alphabet consisted of three
vowels and fourteen consonants .
 Natives wrote on many different materials;
leaves, palm fronds,tree bark and fruit rinds,
but the most common material was bamboo.
 Literature
-The early form of literature during pre-Spanish
period was a classified into written or oral.
 Examples of oral literature consisted of;
-maxims (sabi)
-Bugtong (riddles)
-Boat song (talindaw)
-Victory songs (tagumpay)
-Lullaby (uyayi)
-Wedding song (ihiman)
-War song (kumintang)

 examples of written literature are;

-Biag ni Lam-Ang (Ilocano epic)
-Indarapatra at Sulayman and Bidasari (Muslim Epics)
-Handiong (Bicolanos)Literature
Japanese Period of
the Philippine
Literature
1941 – 1945
 Between 1941-1945, Philippine Literature was
interrupted in its development when we were
again conquered by another foreign country,
Japan.
 Philippine literature in English came to a halt.
 Except for the Tribune and the Philippine
Review, Pillars, Free Philippines, and Filipina,
almost all newspapers in English were stopped
by the Japanese.
 During this time, there was no freedom of speech and
of the press.
 Victoria Abelardo has described Filipino writing during
the Japanese occupation as being pessimistic and
bitter.
 There were some efforts at escapist literature, but in
general, the literary output was minor and
insignificant. Because of strict censorship, few literary
works were printed during the war years.
 The weekly Liwayway was placed under strict
surveillance until it was managed by a Japanese named
Ishiwara
 The only contact with the outside world was done with
utmost secrecy through the underground radio
program called “Voice of Freedom”.
 Tagalog was favored by the Japanese military
authority and writing in English was consigned to
a limbo.
 Japanese were able to influence and encourage
the Filipino in developing the vernacular
literature.
 The only Filipino writers who could write freely
were those who were living in the United States.
 Most writers and authors were lead to either go
underground or write in Tagalog.
 So, Filipino literature was given a break during
this period.
 Filipino literature also experienced renewed
attention because writers in English turned to
writing in Filipino.
 FILIPINO DRAMA
-The drama experienced a lull during the
Japanese period because movie houses
showing American films were closed.
- The big movie houses were just made to show
stage shows. Many of the plays were
reproductions of English plays to Tagalog.
-The translators were Francisco Soc Rodrigo,
Alberto Concio, and Narciso Pimentel.
 A few of the playwriters
were:
1. Jose Ma. Hernandez – wrote PANDAY PIRA
2. Francisco Soc Rodrigo – wrote sa PULA, SA
PUTI
3.Clodualdo del Mundo – wrote BULAGA (an
expression in the game Hide and Seek).
4. Julian Cruz Balmaceda – wrote SINO BA
KAYO?, DAHIL SA ANAK, and HIGANTE NG
PATAY.
 Three types of poems
emerged during this period.
Haiku
-a poem of free verse that the Japanese liked. It is
made up of seventeen (17) syllables divided into
three (3) lines. The first line has five, the second -
seven and the third - five. It is allegorical in meaning,
short and covers a wide scope in meaning.

Tanaga
-like the haiku, it is short, but has measure and
rhyme. Each line has seventeen syllables and is also
allegorical in meaning.
Usual Form – the usual and common form of
poetry
• The field of the short story widened during the
Japanese Occupation. Many wrote short stories.

• Among them were:

 Brigido Batungbakal
 Macario Pineda
 Serafin Guinigindo
 Liwayway Arceo,
 Narciso Ramos
 NVM Gonzales,
 Alicia Lopez Lim
 Ligaya Perez
 Gloria Guzman
• Noteworthy writer of the period was Carlos P.
Romulo who won the Pulitzer Prize for his
bestsellers
I SAW THE FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES, I SEE THE
PHILIPPINES RISE and his MOTHER AMERICA
AND MY BROTHER AMERICANS.
• Journalists include Salvador P. Lopez, Leon
Ma. Geurrero, Raul Manglapuz and Carlos
Bulosan.
• Nick Joaquin produced THE WOMAN WHO
LOOKED LIKE LAZARUS. Fred Ruiz Castro
wrote a few poems
Philippine
Literature
During
American
Period
 Historical Background
 The filipino-american war resulted in the defeat
of Gen. Miguel Malvar in 1903. The peace
movements started as early as 1900.

 Many filipino started writing again and the

nationalism of the people remain undaunted.
Filipino writers went into all forms of literature
like news reporting, poetry, stories, plays, essays
and novels. Their writings clearly depicted their
love of country and thier longings for
independence
IN 1910
 A new group started to write in English.
 Hence, Spanish, Tagalog , the Vernaculars and
finally , English, were the mediums used in
literature during these times.
 The writers in Spanish were wont to write on
nationalism like honoring Rizal and other heroes.
 The writers in Tagalog continued in their
lamentations on the conditions of the country
and their attempts to arouse love for one’s native
tongue. The writers in English imitated the
themes and methods of the Americans.
IN 1920
• The UP college Folio was later replaced by the
Philippine Collegian.
• Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez stand out
as a model of perfection in character
delineation, local color, plot and message.

1933
Footnote to youth by Jose Garcia Villa
The active arousal in the field
of Literature started to be
felt in the following
newspaper
EL NUEVO DIA (THE NEW DAY) – Sergio
Osmena in 1900
EL GRITO DEL PUEBLO (THE CALL OF THE
NATION) – Pascual Poblete in 1900
EL RENACIEMENTO (The Rebirth) –Rafael
Palma in 1900
 There were also plays
written,included here were
the following:
• KAHAPON, NGAYON AT BUKAS (Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow) Written by Aurelio
Tolentino
• TANIKALANG GINTO of Juan Abad
• MALAYA by Thomas Remigio
• WALANG SUGAT by Severino Reyes
Characteristics of Literature
During this Period
A. Literature in Spanish
B. Filipino Literature
C. Philippine Literature in English
 Opening of Public School
 Education became a very important issue for
the united states colonial government, since it
allowed it to spread thier cultural values,
particularly the english language, to the
filipino people. By 1901, public education was
institutionalized in the philippines, with
english serving the medium of instruction.
In a way, we can say that we can
trace the beginnings of Philippine
literature in English with the
coming of the Americans. For this
purpose, we can divide this
period into three time frames,
namely
 The Period of Re-Orientation (1898-1910)
 English as a literary vehicle came with the
American occupation in August 13, 1898 and as
they say, a choice bestowed on us by history.
 By 1900, English came to be used as a medium
of instruction in the public schools. From the
American forces were recruited the first
teachers of English.
 By 1908, the primary and intermediate grades
were using English. It was also about this time
when UP, the forerunner in the use of English
in higher education, was founded.
 THE PERIOD OF IMITATION (1910-1924)

 By 1919, the UP College Folio published

the literary compositions of the first Filipino
writers in English. They were the pioneers in
short story writing.
 They were then groping their way into
imitating American and British models which
resulted in a stilted, artificial and unnatural
style, lacking vitality and spontaneity.
PERIOD OF SELF-DISCOVERY AND GROWTH
(1925-1941)

By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the

mastery of English writing. They now
confidently and competently wrote on a lot of
subjects although the old-time favorites of
love and youth persisted. They went into all
forms of writing like the novel and the drama.
Poetry. Noteworthy names in this field ,they
wrote in free verse, in odes and sonnets and in
other types. Poetry was original, spontaneous,
competently written and later, incorporated
social consciousness.
Short Story (1925-1941) Poetry and short story
flourished during these times.
Publications. The Philippine Free Press provided
the first incentives to Filipino writers in English
by offering prizes to worthwhile contribution.
Other publication followed suit.
The Drama.(1925-1941) Drama during this
period did not reach the heights attained by the
novel or the short story.
THE REBIRTH OF
FREEDOM
 THE REBIRTH OF FREEDOM
 Literature – struggle of mind and spirit
 Newspapers flourished
 Free Press, Morning Sun, Daily Mirror,
Evening News, Bulletin TV Villaflores
Philippine Contemporary Literature
Poetry In English
 Love of nature
 Social and political problems
 Prose and Poems – Nick Joaquin
 Have Come, Am Here – Jose Garcia Villa

Filipino literature
 Japanese brutalities, poverty of life, brave
guerilla exploits
 Magazines and newspapers re-opened
 Bulaklak, Ilang – Ilang, Sinag Tala
Palanca Awards
 Award giving body in literature – Carlos Palanca Sr
 Kuwento ni Mabuti – Genoveva Edroza

Period of Activism Martial Law

 The seed of activism
 The Bloody Placards - Makibaka
 The Literary Revolution
 The Bomba Films
 The First Quarter Storm
 Period of Activism
• 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
nameof the storm was history.” . . . Jose Lacaba
 The New Society
Themes – development of the country
 Green Revolution
 Family planning
 Proper nutrition
 Environment
 Drug addiction
 Pollution
 Stopped pornography
 Stopped school newspapers and organizations
 Revived the cenaculo, the zarzuela, and embayoka
Poetry
 Themes – patience, native culture,
nature and surroundings
Play
 Metropolitan Theater, FAT, CCP
 PETA, Repertory Philippines, UP
Repertory, Teatro Filipino,
Radio and TV
 Si Matar, Dahlia, Ito ang Palad Ko, Mr. Lonely
 Gulong ng Palad, Flor de Luna, Anna Liza, Superman,
Tarzan
Play

Films
 Pista ng mga Pelikulang Pilipino
 Maynila… Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag
 Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo
 Ganito Kami Noon…Paano Kayo Ngayon
 Insiang
 Aguila
• Comics, Magazines, Newspapers
 Economic progress, discipline, culture,
tourism
Pilipino, Hiwaga, Extra, Klasik, Lovelife,
Espesyal
Liwayway, Kislap, Extra Hot, Bulaklak, Jingle
Sensation
Bulletin Today, Times Journal, People’s
Journal, Balita, Pilipino Express, Philippine
Daily Express, Evening Post, Evening Express