Pre-Colonial (early times – 1564)

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 Pre-colonial 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 Pre-colonial 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. At this phase of literary development,
any member of the community was a potential poet, singer or storyteller as long as he knew the
language and had been attentive to the conventions f the forms.
In settlements along or near the seacoast, a native syllabary was in use before the
Spaniards brought over the Roman alphabet. The syllabary had three vowels (a, i-e, u-o) and 14
consonants (b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, and y) but, curiously enough, had no way of
indicating the consonantal ending words. This lends credence to the belief that the syllabary
could not have been used to produce original creative works which would all but be
undecipherable when read by one who had had no previous contact with the text. When the
syllabary fell into disuse among the Christianized Filipinos, much valuable information about
Pre-colonial culture that could had been handed down to us was lost. Fewer and fewer Filipinos
kept records of their oral lore, and fewer and fewer could decipher what had been recorded in
earlier times. The perishable materials on which the Filipinos wrote were disintegrate and the
missionaries who believed that indigenous pagan culture was the handicraft of the devil himself
destroyed those that remained.
There are two ways by which the uniqueness of indigenous culture survived colonization.
First, by resistance to colonial rule. This was how the Maranaws, the Maguindanaws, and the
Tausogs of Mindanao and Igorots, Ifugao, Bontocs and Kalingas of the Mountain Province were
able to preserve the integrity of their ethnic heritage. The Tagbanwas, Tagabilis, Mangyans,
Bagobos, Manuvus, Bilaan, Bukidnons, and Isneg could cling on the traditional way of life
because of the inaccessibility of settlements. It is to these descendants of ancient Filipinos who
did not come under the cultural sway of Western colonizers that we turn when we look for
examples of oral lore. Oral lore they have been preserve like epics, tales, songs, riddles, and
proverbs that are now windows to a past with no written records which can be studied.
Ancient Filipinos possessed great wealth of lyric poetry. There were many songs of great
variety in lyrics and music as well as meter. Each mountain tribe and each group of lowland
Filipinos had its own. Most of the may be called folksongs in that there can be traced in them
various aspects of the life and customs of the people.
Pre-colonial poetry was composed of poems composed of different dialects of the islands.
The first Spanish settlers themselves found such poetry, reproduced them, and recorded in their
reports and letters to Spain. Although Pre-colonial poems are distinct from the lyrics of the
folksongs the said poems were usually chanted when recited, as is still the custom of all Asiatic
peoples and Pacific Ocean tribes. It is true that many of the Pre-colonial poetry is crude in
ideology and phraseology as we look at it with our present advanced knowledge of what poetry
should be. Considering the fact that early Filipinos never studied literature and never had a
chance to study poetry and poetic technique, it is surprising that their spontaneous poetic
expression had some rhythmic pattern in the use of equal syllabic counts for the lines of stanza,
and have definitely uniform rhyming scheme. Spanish missionaries writing grammars and
vocabularies had made good use of these early beginnings of Filipino poetry to illustrate word
usage according to the dictionary and grammatical definitions they had cast.
Thousands of maxims, proverbs, epigrams, and the like have been listed by many different
collectors and researchers from many dialects. Majority of these reclaimed from oblivion com
from the Tagalos, Cebuano, and Ilocano dialects. And the bulks are rhyming couplets with
verses of five, six seven, or eight syllables, each line of the couplet having the same number of
syllables. The rhyming practice is still the same as today in the three dialects mentioned. A good
number of the proverbs is conjectured as part of longer poems with stanza divisions, but only
the lines expressive of a philosophy have remained remembered in the oral tradition. Classified
with the maxims and proverbs are allegorical stanzas which abounded in all local literatures.
They contain homilies, didactic material, and expressions of homespun philosophy, making
them often quoted by elders and headmen in talking to inferiors. They are rich in similes and
metaphors. These one stanza poems were called Tanaga and consisted usually of four lines
with seven syllables, all lines rhyming.
The most appreciated riddles of ancient Philippines are those that are rhymed and having
equal number of syllables in each line, making them classifiable under the early poetry of this
country. Riddles were existent in all languages and dialects of the ancestors of the Filipinos and
cover practically all of the experiences of life in these times.
Almost all the important events in the life of the ancient peoples of this country were
connected with some religious observance and the rites and ceremonies always some poetry
recited, chanted, or sung. The lyrics of religious songs may of course be classified as poetry
also, although the rhythm and the rhyme may not be the same.
Drama as a literary from had not yet begun to evolve among the early Filipinos. Philippine
theater at this stage consisted largely in its simplest form, of mimetic dances imitating natural
cycles and work activities. At its most sophisticated, theater consisted of religious rituals
presided over by a priest or priestess and participated in by the community. The dances and
ritual suggest that indigenous drama had begun to evolve from attempts to control the
environment. Philippine drama would have taken the form of the dance-drama found in other
Asian countries.
Prose narratives in prehistoric Philippines consisted largely or myths, hero tales, fables and
legends. Their function was to explain natural phenomena, past events, and contemporary
beliefs in order to make the environment less fearsome by making it more comprehensible and,
in more instances, to make idle hours less tedious by filling them with humor and fantasy. There
is a great wealth of mythical and legendary lore that belongs to this period, but preserved mostly
by word of mouth, with few written down by interested parties who happen upon them.
The most significant pieces of oral literature that may safely be presumed to have
originated in prehistoric times are folk epics. Epic poems of great proportions and lengths
abounded in all regions of the islands, each tribe usually having at least one and some tribes
possessing traditionally around five or six popular ones with minor epics of unknown number.
Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays in the Southeast Asia, a culture
with traces of Indian, Arabic, and, possibly Chinese influences. Their epics, songs, short poems,
tales, dances and rituals gave them a native Asian perspective which served as a filtering
device for the Western culture that the colonizers brought over from Europe.

Spanish Colonialism (1565 – 1897)

A. Characteristics

1. It has two distinct classifications: religious and secular

2. It introduced Spanish as the medium of communication

B. Literary Forms

1. Religious Literature - Religious lyrics written by ladino poets or those versed inboth Spanish
and Tagalog were included in early catechism and were used toteach Filipinos the Spanish
language.

a.Pasyon – long narrative poem about the passion and death of Christ. The mostpopular was
“Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Cristong Panignoon Natin” byAguino de Belen.

b.Senakulo – dramatization of the pasyon, it shows the passion and death of Christ

2. Secular (non-religious) Literature

a.Awit - colorful tales of chivalry made for singing and chanting

Example: Ibong Adarna

b.Korido – metrical tale written in octosyllabic quatrains

Example: Florante at Laura by Francisco Baltazar

c. Prose Narratives – written to prescribe proper decorum

i. Dialogo iii. Ejemplo

ii.Manual de Urbanidad iv. Tratado

Examples: Modesto de Castro's "Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na siUrbana at si

Feliza " and Joaquin Tuason's " Ang Bagong Robinson" (The NewRobinson) in 1879.
American Period (1898 – 1945)
Philippine literature during the American rule was influenced by two factors, first of which is,
education. With the Americans providing free education, many were given the chance to study
and English was used as the language of instruction. Unlike the Spanish, the foreigners were
willing to teach their language to the Filipinos. Free education served as the stepping stone for
others to improve their social status.

Early literary works in English showed styles of which is American. It can also be seen that
writers who just started learning English cannot fully showcase their talent because of the lack
of mastery of the language.

The downfall of the Spanish colonialism freed the printing industry from religious censorship.
With the printing industry in the hands of patriotic investors, the printing press was used to block
the American culture from entering the Philippine lifestyle. Newspapers in our different dialects
flourished all over the archipelago. With some newspapers having a space for literary pieces,
writers were given the chance to show and prove the true talent of the Filipinos. Some of these
newspapers were Muling Pagsilang (1903, Tagalog), Ang Kaluwasan (1902, Cebuano),
Makinaugalingon (1913, Ilonggo), and Nueva Era (1908, Ilokano). The best known magazines
that capitalized on short stories and poems were Liwayway (1922, Tagalog), Bisaya (1930,
Cebuano), Hiligaynon (1934, Ilonggo), and Bannawag (1934, Ilokano).

Writers during the American Period drew ideas from the Propaganda Movement and the
Revolutionary Movement to encourage the Filipinos to continue to fight against the U.S.
Colonialism. The demand for independence was supported by a campaign to make the
Americans aware of the Filipino culture. Some writers who use the Spanish language began to
shift to the American language for the fact that a larger population can now comprehend the
said language. It is a fact that Filipinos during the Spanish period were not given the chance to
learn the language, resulting in a very small population of people capable of understanding the
literary works.

The literary genres that flourished during the American Period were poetry, sarswela, short
story, and the novel. Poetry was written in the three languages - Filipino, Spanish, English, and
in the different dialects. Some of the known poets during the American period were Maximo
Kalaw, Carlos P. Romulo, Maria Agoncillo, Paz Marquez Benitez, Salvador P. Lopez, Jose
Garcia Villa, Carlos Bulosan, and many others. There were three collection of poems printed
namely Filipino Poetry edited by Rodolfo Dato, The English German Anthology of Poets edited
by Pablo Laslo, and a pre-war collection by Carlos Bulosan. The balagtasan, named after
Francisco F. Balagtas, is a debate in verse, a poetical joust done almost spontaneously
between protagonists who debate over the pros and the cons of a certain issue. The first ever
balagtasan was held in March 1924 at the Insituto de Mujeres, with Corazon de Jesus and
Florentino Collantes as rivals. Jose Corazon de Jesus, known also as Huseng Batute, became
the first ever king of the Balagtasan.

Short stories in English of early Filipino fictionists are marked with American style. This all
changed with the founding of the U. P. Writers Club in 1926 whose aim was to enhance and
propagate the "language of Shakespeare." With the publication of Paz Marquez Benitez' "Dead
Stars," it was made the landmark of the maturity of the Filipino writer in English. Many writers
followed Benitez like Icasiano Calalang, Arturo Rotor, A. E. Litiatco, Paz Latorena, and Manuel
Arguilla started publishing stories manifesting skills in the use of the foreign language and a
keen Filipino sensibility.

The combination of the foreign language and the culture of a Filipino enabled fictionists to
produce great literary works. The public can now relate to the story because the public also
experiences what the story has to say and they can now understand the language being used
by the writer. Works like "His Native Soil" by Juan C. Laya, "How My Brother Leon Brought
Home a Wife" by Manuel Arguilla, and many others depicted the Filipino life in English. The
other novelists of this period are Jose Garcia Villa, Francisco Arellana, Fernando Maria
Guerrero, Amador Daguio, and Sinai Hamada.

With the founding of the Philippine Writers League in 1936, Filipino writers began discussing the
value of literature in the society they live in. This move was led by Salvador P. Lopez whose
works centered on proletarian literature.
It was during the early American period that the sarswela gained popularity. Most of the
sarwelas if not all are directed against the American imperialists. The works of Severino Reyes
("Walang Sugat") and Patricio Mariano ("Anak ng Dagat") are equally remarkable sarwelas
during the period. Here are the other noted sarswelistas: Aurelio Tolentino, Juan Abad, Juan
Matapang Cruz, and Juan Crisostomo Sotto.

Among the Ilokano writers, noted novelists were Leon Pichay, Hermogenes Belen, and Mena
Pecson Crisologo whose Mining wenno Ayat ti Kararwa is considered to be the Ilokano version
of Noli Me Tangere. Magdalena Jalandoni and Ramon Muzones are the most prominent writers
in the Visayas region. Their works depicted love, farm life, and the social life the region is
having.
The latter stages of the American period continued to produce great poets like Julian Cruz
Blamaceda, Florentino Collantes, Pedro Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Lope K. Santos,
Alejandro Abadilla, Teodoro Agoncillo, and Inigo Ed. Regalado. They used a modern style of
poetry that is made up of free verse.
Liwayway Arceo and Genoveva Edroza Matute are two fictionist writers that became popular
during the American rule. Their works "Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa" and "Ako'y Isang Tinig"
respectively are used as models for fine writing. Both writers use a style of storytelling that uses
language through poignant rendition. Teodoro Agoncillo's "25 Pinakamahusay na Maikling
Kuwento" included the foremost writers of fiction before World War II.

Post World War II (1946 – 1971)

Published in 1946, Ginto Sa Makiling – a novel by Macario Pineda, is the first work of note that
appeared after the second world war. In plot, it hews close to the mode of romantic fantasy
traceable to the awits, koridos and komedyas of the Balagtas tradition. But it is a symbolical
narrative of social, moral and political import. In this, it resembles not only Balagtas but also
Rizal, but in style and plot it is closer to Balagtas in not allowing the realistic mode to restrict the
element of fantasy.

Two novels by writers in English dealt with the war experience: (Medina, p. 194) Stevan
Javellana’s Without Seeing the Dawn (1947), and Edilberto Tiempo’s Watch in the Night. Both
novels hew closely to the realist tradition. Lazaro Francisco, the eminent Tagalog novelist of the
pre-war years, was to continue to produce significant work. He revised his Bayaning
Nagpatiwakal (1932), refashioning its plot and in sum honing his work as a weapon against the
policies that tended to perpetuate American economic dominance over the Philippines. The
updated novel was titled Ilaw Sa Hilaga (1948) (Lumbera, p. 67). He was to produce three more
novels.Sugat Sa Alaala (1950) reflects the horrors of the war experience as well as the human
capacity for nobility, endurance and love under the most extreme circumstances. Maganda Pa
Ang Daigdig (1956) deals with the agrarian issue, and Daluyong (1962) deals with the
corruption bred by the American-style and American-educated pseudo-reformers. Lazaro
Francisco is a realist with social and moral ideals. The Rizal influence on his work is profound.

The poet Amado Hernandez, who was also union leader and social activist, also wrote novels
advocating social change. Luha ng Buwaya (1963) (Lumbera) deals with the struggle between
the oppressed peasantry and the class of politically powerful landlords. Mga Ibong Mandaragit
(1969) deals with the domination of Filipinos by American industry (Lumbera, p. 69).

Unfortunately, the Rizalian path taken by Lazaro Francisco and Amado Hernandez with its
social-realist world-view had the effect of alienating them from the mode of the highly magical
oral-epic tradition. Imported social realism (and, in the case of Amado Hernandez, a brand of
socialist empiricism), was not entirely in touch with the folk sentiment and folk belief, which is
why the Tagalog romances (e.g., Ginto Sa Makiling, serialized in the comics), were far more
popular than their work.

It was Philippine Literature in English which tapped the folk element in the Philippine
unconscious to impressive, spectacular effect. Nick Joaquin, through his neo-romantic, poetic
and histrionic style, is reminiscent of the dramas of Balagtas and de la Cruz. His dizzying
flashbacks (from an idealized romantic Spanish past to a squalid Americanized materialistic
present) are cinematic in effect, ironically quite Hollywood-ish, serving always to beguile and
astonish.

Francisco Arcellana, his younger contemporary, was a master of minimalist fiction that is as
native as anything that could be written in English, possessing the potent luminosity of a
sorcerer’s rune.

Wilfrido Nolledo, fictionist-playwright growing up in the aura of such masters, was the disciple
who, without conscious effort, created a school of his own. His experiments in plot and
plotlessness, his creation of magical scenes, made splendorous by a highly expressive
language, easily became the rage among young writers who quickly joined (each in his/her own
highly original style) the Nolledo trend. Among these poetic fictionists of the 1960’s were
Wilfredo Pasqua Sanchez, Erwin Castillo, Cesar Ruiz Aquino, Resil Mojares, Leopoldo Cacnio
and Ninotchka Rosca. Of them all, only the last two did not publish verse. Their non-realistic
(even anti-realistic) style made them perhaps the most original group of writers to emerge in the
post-war period. But such a movement that slavishly used the American colonists’ language
(according to the Nationalist, Socialist Tagalog writers who were following A.V. Hernandez)
were called decadent (in the manner of Lukacsian social realism).

Post-war poetry and fiction was dominated by the writers in English educated and trained in
writers’ workshops in the United States or England. Among these were the novelists Edilberto
and Edith Tiempo (who is also a poet), short-fictionist Francisco Arcellana, poet-critic Ricaredo
Demetillo, poet-fictionist Amador Daguio, poet Carlos Angeles, fictionists N.V.M. Gonzales and
Bienvenido N. Santos. Most of these writers returned to the Philippines to teach. With their
credentials and solid reputations, they influenced the form and direction of the next generation
mainly in accordance with the dominant tenets of the formalist New Critics of America and
England.
 Even literature in the Tagalog-based national language (now known as Filipino) could not avoid
being influenced or even (in the critical sense) assimilated. College-bred writers in Filipino like
Rogelio Sikat and Edgardo Reyes saw the need to hone their artistry according to the dominant
school of literature in America of that period, despite the fact that the neo-Aristotelian formalist
school went against the grain of their socialist orientation. Poet-critic Virgilio Almario (1944- ),
a.k.a. Rio Alma, in a break-away move reminiscent of Alejandro Abadilla, and in the formalist
(New Critical) mode then fashionable, bravely opined that Florante at Laura, Balagtas’
acknowledged masterpiece, was an artistic failure (Reyes, p. 71-72). It was only in the early
1980’s (Reyes, p. 73) that Almario (after exposure to the anti-ethnocentrism of structuralism and
Deconstruction) revised his views.

The protest tradition of Rizal, Bonifacio and Amado Hernandez found expression in the works of
Tagalog poets from the late 1960’s to the 1980’s, as they confronted Martial Law and
repression. Among these liberationist writers were Jose Lacaba, Epifanio San Juan, Rogelio
Mangahas, Lamberto Antonio, Lilia Quindoza, and later, Jesus Manuel Santiago. The group
Galian sa Arte at Tula nurtured mainly Manila writers and writing (both in their craft and social
vision) during some of the darkest periods of Martial Law.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes on the printed page, oral literature flourished in the outlying
communities. Forms of oral poetry like the Cebuano Balak, the Ilokano Bukanegan, the Tagalog
Balagtasan, and the SamalTinis-Tinis, continued to be declaimed by the rural-based bards,
albeit to dwindling audiences. In the late 1960’s, Ricaredo Demetillo had, using English (and
English metrics) pioneered a linkage with the oral tradition. The result was the award-winning
Barter in Panay, an epic based on the Ilonggo epic Maragtas. Inspired by the example, other
younger poets wrote epics or long poems, and they were duly acclaimed by the major award-
giving bodies. Among these poets were writers in English like Cirilo Bautista (The Archipelago,
1968), Artemio Tadena (Northward into Noon, 1970) and Domingo de Guzman (Moses, 1977).

However, except for Demetillo’s modern epic, these attempts fall short of establishing a linkage
with the basic folk tradition. Indeed, most are more like long meditative poems, like Eliot’s or
Neruda’s long pieces. Interest in the epic waned as the 1980’s approached. The 1980’s became
a decade of personalistic free verse characteristic of American confessional poetry. The epic
“big picture” disappeared from the scene, to be replaced by a new breed of writers nourished by
global literary sources, and critical sources in the developed world. The literary sources were
third world (often nativistic) poetry such as that of Neruda, Vallejo and Octavio Paz. In fiction,
the magic-realism of Borges, Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie, among others, influenced
the fiction of Cesar Aquino, Alfred Yuson, and poet-fictionist Mario Gamalinda.

On the other hand, the poets trained in American workshops continue to write in the lyrical-
realist mode characteristic of American writing, spawned by imagism and neo-Aristotelianism.
Among these writers (whose influence remains considerable) are the poet-critics Edith L.
Tiempo, Gemino Abad, Ophelia A. Dimalanta and Emmanuel Torres. Their influence can be felt
in the short lyric and the medium-length meditative poem that are still the Filipino poet’s
preferred medium. Some contemporary poets in English such as Marjorie Evasco and Merlie
Alunan, derive their best effects from their reverence for the ineluctable image. Ricardo de
Ungria’s and Luisa Aguilar Cariño’s poems, on the other hand, are a rich confluence of imagism,
surrealism and confessionalism.

The Philippine novel, whether written in English or any of the native languages, has remained
social-realist. Edgardo Reyes’ Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1966), for instance, is a critique of
urban blight, and Edilberto K. Tiempo’s To Be Free is a historical probe of the western idea of
freedom in the context of indigenous Philippine culture. Kerima Polotan Tuvera’s novel The
Hand of the Enemy (1972), a penetratingly lucid critique of ruling-class psychology, is entirely
realistic, if Rizalian in its moments of high satire, although unlike the Rizalian model, it falls short
of a moral vision.

Only a few novelists like Gamalinda, Yuson and Antonio Enriquez, can claim a measure of
success in tapping creative power from folk sources in their venture to join the third world
magic-realist mainstream.

But the poets of oral-folk charisma, such as Jose Corazon de Jesus, are waiting in the wings for
a comeback as astonishing as Lam-ang’s legendary resurrection. Modernist and post-modernist
criticism, which champions the literature of the disempowered cultures, has lately attained
sufficient clout to shift the focus of academic pursuits towards native vernacular literatures (oral
and written) and on the revaluation of texts previously ignored, such as those by women writers.
Sa Ngalan Ng Ina (1997), by prize-winning poet-critic Lilia Quindoza Santiago, is, to date, the
most comprehensive compilation of feminist writing in the Philippines.

Martial Law (1972 – 1986)

Martial Law Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated
regions on an emergency basis. Martial law is usually imposed on a temporary basis when the
civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively when there are extensive
riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread. Fundamentally it
is a requirement put on civilian government when they fail to function correctly.

The declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972 stifled the creativity of most writers. Many
writers preferred to write on trivial matters.

It is not quite correct to argue that it was only in 1972 that Filipino writers started to use their
writings to explore socio-political realities. The tradition of protest has always been a potent
force in the production of socially committed writings, as a number of critics such as Bienvenido
Lumbera, and Epifanio San Juan Jr. have argued. The 1970s, for example, witnessed the
proliferation of poems, short stories, and novels which grappled with the burning issues of the
times. In a large number of magazines and journals, writers in both English and Pilipino faced
the problems of exploitation and injustice, and appropriated these realities as the only relevant
materials for their fiction. In effect, writers such as Ricardo Lee, Virgilio Almario, Efren Abueg,
Ave Perez Jacob, and Dominador Mirasol produced a large number of texts that were
profoundly disturbing, even as these works zeroed in on the various forms of repression and
violence.

But when Martial Law was declared, the writers found themselves silenced. The literature rooted
in commitment that had flowered earlier could no longer be written. Only a few could dare incur
the ire of the powerful voice which pronounced that literature ought to deal with the true, the
good, and the beautiful It was assumed that dominant literature during the period of activism
was not good, not true, and certainly not beautiful, obsessed as the texts were with the
nightmarish situations spawned by institutionalized violence, where Messiah-like figures were
rendered impotent, where Mary-like characters were being turned away by agents of law and
justice, and where characters were witnesses to the widespread pillage and destruction
committed by the likes of Tio Samuel. It was not fitting literature for the Society.
But the voice that spoke so eloquently could not be stilled forever. Gradually, the writers found
their voice. The composition of the group of writers whose works have already built a name for
themselves include Bienvenido Santos, F. Sionil Jose, Gregorio Brillantes, and Nick Joaquin.
The list also includes Carlos Bulosan, the Filipino expatriate, who now speaks to the present in
two compilations of his writings.

Martial Law repressed and curtailed human rights, including freedom of the press

Writers used symbolism and allegories to drive home their message, at the face of heavy
censorship. Theater was used as a vehicle for protest, such as the PETA (Phil. Educational
Theater Association) and UP Theater.4.From the eighties onwards, writers continue to show
dynamism and innovation

The flowering of Philippine literature in the various languages continue especially with the
appearance of new publications after the Martial Law years and the resurgence of committed
literature in the 1960s and the 1970s.

Filipino writers continue to write poetry, short stories, novellas, novels and essays whether
these are socially committed, gender/ethnic related or are personal in intention or not.

Of course the Filipino writer has become more conscious of his art with the proliferation of
writers workshops here and abroad and the bulk of literature available to him via the mass
media including the internet. The various literary awards such as the Don Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic, Home Life and
Panorama literary awards encourage him to compete with his peers and hope that his creative
efforts will be rewarded in the long run. With the new requirement by the Commission on Higher
Education of teaching of Philippine Literature in all tertiary schools in the country emphasizing
the teaching of the vernacular literature or literature of the regions, the audience for Filipino
writers is virtually assured. And, perhaps, a national literature finding its niche among the
literature of the world will not be far behind.

With the requirement by the Commission on Higher Education to teach Philippine Literature in
all tertiary schools in the country, the teaching of the vernacular literature or literature of the
regions was emphasized.

Filipino writers started to use their writings to explore socio-political realities. The tradition of
protest has always been a potent force in the production of socially committed writings, as a
number of critics such as Bienvenido Lumbera, and Epifanio San Juan Jr. have argued. The
1970s, for example, witnessed the proliferation of poems, short stories, and novels which
grappled with the burning issues of the times. In a large number of magazines and journals,
writers in both English and Pilipino faced the problems of exploitation and injustice, and
appropriated these realities as the only relevant materials for their fiction.

Post – EDSA Revolution

The year 1986 marks a new beginning of a new scene for Filipino writers and artists. It saw the
downfall of late President Ferdinand Marcos when he placed the Philippines under martial rule
last September 21,1972. This action does not only oppress the writers' right to free expression
but also created conditions that made collaboration and cooperation convenient choices for
artists' struggling for recognition and survival. Furthermore, the growth of underground writing
was created both in urban and in the countryside.
 The popular "Edsa Revolution" (EDSA, a highway in Metro Manila that runs north to south
from Caloocan to Baclaran) has paved the way for the flight of the dictator and his family to
Hawaii, USA on February 24,1986. The revolt established the presidency of Corazon Aquino,
which marked the "restoration" of a pre-Martial Law society. However, the Philippines did not
recover that easily. The years that followed "Edsa" was a wild "roller-coaster" ride for many
Filipinos. The unease times was caused by natural disasters that left the economic plans in
shambles.

Militancy and belligerence best describes writing under the Martial Law regime. With the
overthrow of the enemy in 1986, however, the literary activity showed certain disorientation
manifesting itself in a proliferation of concerns taken up by individual writers and groups.

Creative writing centers after Edsa maybe grouped into two. Academic institutions where
Creative Writing is part of the curricular offerings, and students majoring in Literature are able to
come in contact with elder creative writers/critics/professors belonged to the first group. Such
academic institutions includes the Silliman University; the University of the Philippines; the
Ateneo de Manila University; De la Salle University; and last but not the least, San Carlos
University in Cebu.

The second group is composed of writers' organizations that periodically sponsor symposia
on writing and/or set up workshops for its members and other interested parties. UMPIL (Unyon
ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipino), PANULAT (Pambansang Unyon ng mga Manunulat), Panday-
Lipi, GAT (Galian sa Arte at Tula), KATHA, LIRA (Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo),
GUMIL (Gunglo Dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano), LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Binisaya) and P.E.N.

Writers get to hear about new developments in writing and derive enthusiasm for their craft
through these twin centers. The two "unyon" function as umbrellas under which writers
belonging to a diversity of organizations socialize with fellow writers.

Award giving bodies, annual competitions and publications provide the incentives for writers
to keep producing. These actions perform the important service of keeping the writers in the
public consciousness, making it possible for commentators and audiences to identify significant
established writers and give attention to emerging new talents.

The National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), a post-EDSA state sponsored
institution, was created by the law in 1992, superseding the Presidential Commission on Culture
and the Arts which was established in 1987. The said institution has a Committee on Literary
Arts which funds workshops, conferences, publications and a variety of projects geared towards
the production of a "national literature". The committee has the aim of developing writing that is
multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and truly national.

Non-governmental organizations have helped hand in hand with some institutions in giving
recognition to writers from specific sectors in the society. These NGO's includes the Amado V.
Hernandez Foundation; the GAPAS foundation, and the KAIBIGAN.

Campus publications are another group of outlet that is of importance as a source of non-
traditional, experimental writing. These campus publications could either be a weekly student
newspapers, quarterly magazines, or annual literary journals. The University of the Philippines
has the Collegian; The Diliman Review; and The Literary Apprentice. Silliman University has
Sands and Coral; Ateneo de Manila University issues Heights and Philippine Studies; De la
Salle University has Malate, Likha, and Malay to offer; University of Santo Tomas publishes The
Varsitarian.
 Overall, the character of the Philippine literary scene after "EDSA" maybe pinpointed be
referring to the theories that inform literary production, to the products issuing from the
publishers, to the dominant concerns demonstrated by the writers' output, and to the direction
towards which literary studies are tending.

1. There is in the academe an emerging critical orientation that draws its concerns and
insights from literary theorizing current in England and the United States.

2. Post-EDSA publishing has been marked by adventurousness, a willingness to gamble on

"non-traditional" projects.

3. The declining prestige of the New Criticism, whose rigorous aesthetic norms has
previously functioned as a Procrustean bed on which Filipino authors and their works were
measured, has opened a gap in the critical evaluation of literary works.

4. The fourth and final characteristic of post-EDSA writing is the development thrust
towards the retrieval and the recuperation of writing in Philippine languages other than Tagalog.

REFERENCES/SOURCES:

http://www.angelfire.com/la2/litera1/periods.html

https://www.scribd.com/doc/36510088/Philippine-Literary-Periods

http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/literary-arts/philippine-
literature-in-the-post-war-and-contemporary-period/

http://www.slideshare.net/pangetnicca/philippine-literature-during-martial-law

https://gerryjaymapa.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/historical-background-of-philippine-literature-
during-the-modern-period/

http://musicmediaandculture.blogspot.com/2013/01/martial-law-1972-1985-philippine.html