Periods of Philippine Literature

1. Prehistoric period – Literature was principally oral inasmuch as writing was not yet invented.
Most of the works are concise and poetic forms such as :
- riddles (bugtong) – a type of literary output which call for the audience to guess the thing
being described.
- proverbs (salawikain) – contains words of wisdom, it could talk about prescribed forms of
conduct or statement concerning accepted behaviour. Note that some proverbs, although
expressed in various tongue, are statement considered to be obviously true.
Do not do unto your fellow men what you do not wish done to you.
Ang masama sa iyo, Huwag mong gawin sa kapwa mo. – Tagalog
Kung ano ang maraot sa imo, Dai mo gibuhon sa iba. – Bicol
Dili mo pagpuhaton ngaton sa uban, Ang alang kamino dautan – Cebuano

- It was easier for ancient Filipinos to master these short pieces and passed them to the
succeeding generations
- With the passage of time, oral literature became lengthy and one of these long forms is epic.
 Biag ni Lam-Ang of the Ilocos
 Alim and Hudhud of Ifugaos
 Kumintang of Tagalogs
 Ibalon of the Bicolanos
 Maragtas of Visayans
 Indarapata and Sulayman of Maguindanaos
- Prose works flourished even when the colonizers came. These prosaic pieces includes:
 Legends
 Myths
 Folktales
 Fables
 Parables
- Even if they were long, ancestors passed them down through sharing of stories during their
free time.
- Youngsters were consistent and attentive listeners and successfully recalled them when
writing finally came. They were able to translate works into written forms.
- Some if groups made use of the Alibata.
- It was through writing that prehistoric literature was preserved.

2. Spanish Period – when the first group of colonizers came with the discovery of the Philippines by
Magellan and the first settlement of Spaniards in Cebu was made by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi,
many writings were lost because the Spaniards burned them so as not to leave traces of
Philippine literary ingenuity.
 - The Spanish colonizers, particularly the Spanish friars, whose mission was to spread
Christianity exerted all efforts to convert natives into Christians and to destroy all things
indigenous is a part of their agenda.
- Started conversion by printing religious materials.
- Doctrina Cristiana – first being the Catholic book of prayers and doctrines
- Pasyon by Gaspar Aquino de Belen and Mariano Pilapil, depicting the death of Jesus Christ,
celebrated during Holy Week by the way of Pabasa
- In this period, the poet Francisco Baltazar made a name for himself the immortal allegorical
work, Florante at Laura.
- Popularly called Balagtas, he was immortalized by the poetic joust named Balagtasan,
similar to Crisotan (Named after Crisostomo Sotto, Father of Pampango Literature) and
Bukanegan of Ilocanos (Pedro Bukaneg, Father of Ilocano Literature)
- Fr. Modesto de Castro authored the book of etiquette consisting of letters exchanged
between two sisters, Urbana and Felisa.
- The latter part of Spanish colonization was more productive part of the period – rise of
propagandist led by Rizal and the revolutionist headed by Andres Bonifacio.
- Propagandists battled for reforms and assimilation written in Spanish, and published their
articles in the newspaper called La Solidaridad. (Noli, El Fili, Graciano Lopez Jaena’s Fray’s
Botod, Del Pilar’s Dasalan at Tocsohan)
- They made use of pseudonyms; Rizal as Dimas Alang/Laong Laan, Del Pilar as Plaridel, Jaena
as Diego Laura, Jose Ma. Panganiban as Jomapa and so on…
- Revolutionists (Bonifacio, Jacinto, Mabini, Mariano Ponce…) who fought for independence
wrote in Tagalog.
- They wanted an armed conflict and with the help of the Katipuneros, staged a revolt against
the Spaniards after the secret society named KKK – Kataas-taasang Kagalang-galangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng bayan

3. American Period
- They introduced the public school system and English language.
- Established Philippine Normal School in 1901 and UP in 1908, both of each were run by
American government
- Thomasites were the first English teachers. Filipinos learned the language and used it.
- Philippine Literature in English was born
- Writers increased in number because of: freedom of expression and freedom of the press
- Establishment of guilds or organizations: PEN (Poets, essayists, and novelists); the giving of
incentives in a form of awards to outstanding writers
- This period is the most productive not only because of the number of authors but also with
the number of publishing companies involved in this field – literature in various genres were
considered world class
- 2 clashing school of thought: 1. The art for art’s sake dictum (Jose Garcia Villa) – treats
literary pieces as art objects subject to aesthetic appreciation 2. Art for society’s sake dictum
(Salvador Lopez) – treats literature as instruments to effect social change
 4. Japanese Period
- Writing activities in Filipino stopped with the coming of the Japanese
- They attacked not only the soldiers but also the civilians
- For this reason, writers stopped wielding pens and started wielding guns
- Nihongo/ Nippongo was introduced, as well as their arts and literary forms.
- Filipinos were acquainted with ikebana (the art of flower arrangement), origami, tempura
and sushi (their cru), and haiku.
- Haiku is a short descriptive poem about nature 5-7-5 syllables

5. Philippine Republic
- Publishing companies and unions urged the writers to write again
- New award-giving bodies came out: Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature,
known to be the most prestigious and longest-running award-giving body in the field of
literature, equivalent to the world well-renowned Pulitzer Prize
- Because of this, writers started producing works comparable to the works of foreign
nationals
- Lazaro Francisco
- Amado Hernandez
- Jose Garcia Villa
- Alejandro Abadilla
- Nick Joaquin
- N. V. M. Gonzales
- Rogelio Sikat
- Edgardo Reyes
- Bienvenido Santos
- Lamberto E. Antonio
- Emmanuel Torres
- Bienvenido Ramos
- Efren Abueg

6.Martial Law Period

- Under the presidency of the previous presidents, PH writers enjoyed greater liberty in terms
of content and style.
- September 21, 1972 – implementation of Martial Law. Their freedom was supressed.
- Only government publications continued to see print; the rest were discontinued
- Anti-government publication proliferated in the form of underground publication led by
Malaya
- The lives of oppositionist writers were controlled by the state
 - Some of them whose works were found subversive were silenced by means of summary
execution; others were illegally detained and tortured
- After the lifting of the Martial Law (January 1, 1981), the censorship of publications
continued
- Publishing companies that were remained closed did not reopen
-

7.Post-Martial Law Period

- The assassination of Sen. Benigno Aquino on August 21, 1983 revived the nationalistic spirit
in the Filipino writers who, risking their lives, joined protest rallies, openly demonstrated
their disgust over the government’s handling of national affairs and fearlessly displayed
their collective desire to win back not only their lost freedom of the press, but also all their
other liberties
- This desire was more intense as the protest reached its climax during the EDSA revolution
- The EDSA Revolution of 1986 was responsible for the restoration of the lost freedoms,
among which was the freedom to express one’s ideas and emotions in writing.
- Equality if rights between men and women, women’s liberation violation of women’s rights
- Similarly, LGBT writers enjoyed as much freedom and made their voices heard through
writing.
- Under the administration of the presidents after Marcos’ dictatorial rule, the Filipino writers
enjoyed the benefits of press freedom
- They were able to write about any subject, they became prolitic writers producing a number
of unforgettable works.
- To inspire the Filipino artists in the different genres of art to excel in their respective fields,
the National Artist Awards were given to deserving individuals. In the field of literature
these are the recipient of National Artist Awards:
- Jose Gracia Villa (1973)
- Amado V. Hernandez (1990)
- Rolando Tinio (1992)
- Edith Tiempo (1999)
- Francisco Sionil Jose (2001)
- Alejandro Roces (2003)
- Virgilio S. Alamario (2003)
- Bienvenido Lumbera (2006)
- Lazaro Francisco (2009)

8. Contemporary Period

- Nowadays, the increase number of school publications containing literary pieces, the rise of
literary groups or associations, the patronage of locally-produced works written in
vernacular, the use of English and Filipino, as well as the vernacular, in writing various forms
or literature, and the encouragement provided by the recognition from award-giving body
 of outstanding works of literature and the monetary reward from the sale of commercially-
produced works, more and more writers have come up with traditional forms (poems,
essays, plays, short stories, and novels) and have created novel ones such as prose poetry.
- The influx of technological advances in the form of computers, cellphones, and other
gadgets has given birth to new literary forms, which included and are not limited: blogs, text
tula, and various forms of flash fictions, graphic novel, manga, illustrated novels
- Under any circumstances, during peacetime or wartime, nobody can prevent an individual
who has the passion to write.