The Different Philippine Literary Texts


The Philippines possesses a rich literary heritage and it would take several volumes to tackle such a wide topic. However, this paper’s intention is to introduce the different Philippine literary texts in a nutshell.

The riddle or “bugtong” is a favorite among Pre-Spanish Philippine literary texts. The Cebuanos call it tigmo. The Ilongos call it the paktakon, and the Bicolanos, patototdan. It takes a very observant and sharp mind to correctly answer many bugtong.

Our ancestors as a disciplined people preserved and expressed their cherished values, ethics and code of behavior through proverbs and adage. They also taught life lessons in a poetic form called tanaga . Examples of tanaga are the basahonon of Bukidnon and daraida of Panay.

When falling in or out of love, the Ilongos sang the panawagon and balitao. The Maranao croon the bayok. The Cebuano, on the other hand, courts his wife-to-be by singing the harana.

To explain the creation of the world, geography, and similar topics, the ancient Filipino turned to the magical epics and folktales. There were also legends explaining the origins of things and moral lessons are taught using fables .

There were also epics revolving “around supernatural events or heroic deeds and… embody or validate the beliefs and customs and ideals of a community.” They were usually chanted during harvests, weddings, funerals and special occasions with the accompaniment of musical instruments. The Lam-ang (Ilocano), Kudaman (Palawan), Darangen (Maranao), and Tudbulol (T'boli) are examples of epics.

Literature during the Spanish period “may be classified as religious prose and poetry and secular prose and poetry.” During this period, the komedya, sinakulo, sarswela, the playlets and the drama were introduced to Philippine literature.

The religious texts, both written in Spanish and Tagalog and were included in the catechisms and novenas. They were also used to teach Filipinos Spanish. The pasyon, the Filipinos’ commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice, was also born during this period.

Aside from religious themes, there were literary texts for proper decorum like the dialogo, Manual de Urbanidad, ejemplo, and tratado. Famous among these were "Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at si Feliza" by Modesto de Castro and "Ang Bagong Robinson" of Joaquin Tuason.

Secular lyrics are generally romantic in nature. The leading writers of this genre were Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng Sisiw) and Francisco Balagtas, Leona Florentino, Jacinto Kawili, Isabelo de los Reyes and Rafael Gandioco.

Other popular secular forms of poetry were the awit and korido. Examples of these are Gonzalo de Cordoba (Gonzalo of Cordoba) and Ibong Adarna (Adarna Bird).

Near the end of the Spanish Regime, Filipino intellectuals like Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Emilio Jacinto and Andres Bonifacio, through the Propaganda Movement, wrote prose exposing the wrongdoings of the colonial power. Prime examples of these are Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and the El filibusterismo that helped usher in the Philippine revolution.

When the Americans came, they introduced free verse in poetry, the modern short story and the critical essay. They also made English the medium of instruction, thus decreasing Spanish literary influence. Nevertheless, Spanish-inspired literature continued to exist in limited extents.

There were also attempts to mix local traditions with western influences that led to works like Ang Palad ni Pepe of F.P Boquecosa, inspired by Charle’s Dicken’s David Copperfield.

The essay in the English language became popular in the 1920’s and had remained so even up to the present. Carlos P. Romulo and Jorge Bacobo were among the literary stars who wrote formal to humorous to informal essays. Critical essay writing was the expertise of Ignacio Manlapaz, Leopoldo Yabes, I.V. Mallari and Salvador P. Lopez.

The most common modern Filipino literary forms are poetry, short stories, novellas, novels and essays which tackle social, gender, and ethnic issues for both personal and non-personal intentions.

Modern Philippine literature benefited much by the following factors: (1) The significant increase of the number of publications; (2) the Internet, which provided local writers an affordable and effective forum to interact with their foreign counterparts; (3) the establishment of different award giving bodies like the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippines Free Press, and Philippine Graphic; (4) the Commission on Higher Education’s policy of teaching of Philippine Literature in all tertiary schools, emphasizing the teaching of the vernacular literature.

This paper ends with an inspiring statement from Leon Comber , when he said: "Many of the best short stories came from the Philippines... because Filipino writers felt at ease using English as a medium of expression… and they take to writing in the language as a form of ‘artistic expression’ and show just as much zest and natural talent for it as they do for painting, music and the other arts."