Philippine Literature during American Period

Philippine literary production during the American Period in the Philippines was spurred by two
significant developments in education and culture. One is the introduction of free public instruction for
all children of school age and two, the use of English as medium of instruction in all levels of education
in public schools.

Free public education made knowledge and information accessible to a greater number of Filipinos.
Those who availed of this education through college were able to improve their social status and joined
a good number of educated masses who became part of the country’s middle class.

The use of English as medium of instruction introduced Filipinos to Anglo-American modes of

thought, culture and life ways that would be embedded not only in the literature produced but also in
the psyche of the country’s educated class. It was this educated class that would be the wellspring of a
vibrant Philippine Literature in English.

Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not
escape being imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship. The
poetry written by early poets manifested studied attempts at versification as in the following poem
which is proof of the poet’s rather elementary exercise in the English language:

Vacation days at last are here,

And we have time for fun so dear,
All boys and girls do gladly cheer,
This welcomed season of the year.
In early June in school we’ll meet;
A harder task shall we complete
And if we fail we must repeat
That self same task without retreat.
We simply rest to come again
To school where boys and girls obtain
The Creator’s gift to men
Whose sanguine hopes in us remain.
Vacation means a time for play
For young and old in night and day
My wish for all is to be gay,
And evil none lead you astray

– Juan F. Salazar

Philippines Free Press, May 9, 1909

The poem was anthologized in the first collection of poetry in English, Filipino Poetry, edited by
Rodolfo Dato (1909 – 1924). Among the poets featured in this anthology were Proceso Sebastian
Maximo Kalaw, Fernando Maramag, Leopoldo Uichanco, Jose Ledesma, Vicente Callao, Santiago Sevilla,
Bernardo Garcia, Francisco Africa, Pablo Anzures, Carlos P. Romulo, Francisco Tonogbanua, Juan
Pastrana, Maria Agoncillo, Paz Marquez Benitez, Luis Dato and many others. Another anthology, The
English German Anthology of Poetsedited by Pablo Laslo was published and covered poets published
from 1924-1934 among whom were Teofilo D. Agcaoili, Aurelio Alvero, Horacio de la Costa, Amador T.
Daguio, Salvador P. Lopez, Angela Manalang Gloria, Trinidad Tarrosa, Abelardo Subido and Jose Garcia
Villa, among others. A third pre-war collection of poetry was edited by Carlos Bulosan, Chorus for
America: Six Philippine Poets. The six poets in this collection were Jose Garcia Villa, Rafael Zulueta da
Costa, Rodrigo T. Feria, C.B. Rigor, Cecilio Baroga and Carlos Bulosan.

In fiction, the period of apprenticeship in literary writing in English is marked by imitation of the
style of storytelling and strict adherence to the craft of the short story as practiced by popular American
fictionists. Early short story writers in English were often dubbed as the Andersons or Saroyans or the
Hemingways of Philippine letters. Leopoldo Yabes in his study of the Philippine short story in English
from 1925 to 1955 points to these models of American fiction exerting profound influence on the early
writings of story writers like Francisco Arcellana, A.E. Litiatco, Paz Latorena. .

When the University of the Philippines was founded in 1908, an elite group of writers in English
began to exert influence among the culturati. The U.P. Writers Club founded in 1926, had stated that
one of its aims was to enhance and propagate the “language of Shakespeare.” In 1925, Paz Marquez
Benitez short story, “Dead Stars”was published and was made the landmark of the maturity of the
Filipino writer in English. Soon after Benitez, short story writers began publishing stories no longer
imitative of American models. Thus, story writers like Icasiano Calalang, A.E. Litiatco, Arturo Rotor, Lydia
Villanueva, Paz Latorena , Manuel Arguilla began publishing stories manifesting both skilled use of the
language and a keen Filipino sensibility.

This combination of writing in a borrowed tongue while dwelling on Filipino customs and traditions
earmarked the literary output of major Filipino fictionists in English during the American period. Thus,
the major novels of the period, such as the Filipino Rebel, by Maximo Kalaw, and His Native Soil by Juan
C. Laya, are discourses on cultural identity, nationhood and being Filipino done in the English language.
Stories such as “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” by Manuel Arguilla scanned the scenery as
well as the folkways of Ilocandia while N.V. M. Gonzales’s novels and stories such as “Children of the Ash
Covered Loam,” present the panorama of Mindoro, in all its customs and traditions while configuring its
characters in the human dilemma of nostalgia and poverty. Apart from Arguilla and Gonzales, noted
fictionists during the period included Francisco Arcellana, whom Jose Garcia Villa lauded as a “genius”
storyteller, Consorcio Borje, Aida Rivera, Conrado Pedroche, Amador Daguio, Sinai Hamada, Hernando
Ocampo, Fernando Maria Guerrero. Jose Garcia Villa himself wrote several short stories but devoted
most of his time to poetry.

In 1936, when the Philippine Writers League was organized, Filipino writers in English began
discussing the value of literature in society. Initiated and led by Salvador P. Lopez, whose essays
on Literature and Societyprovoked debates, the discussion centered on proletarian literature, i.e.,
engaged or committed literature versus the art for art’s sake literary orientation. But this discussion
curiously left out the issue of colonialism and colonial literature and the whole place of literary writing in
English under a colonial set-up that was the Philippines then.

With Salvador P. Lopez, the essay in English gained the upper hand in day to day discourse on
politics and governance. Polemicists who used to write in Spanish like Claro M. Recto, slowly started
using English in the discussion of current events even as newspaper dailies moved away from Spanish
reporting into English. Among the essayists, Federico Mangahas had an easy facility with the language
and the essay as genre. Other noted essayists during the period were Fernando Maramag, Carlos P.
Romulo , Conrado Ramirez.
 On the other hand, the flowering of a vibrant literary tradition due to historical events did not
altogether hamper literary production in the native or indigenous languages. In fact, the early period of
the 20th century was remarkable for the significant literary output of all major languages in the various
literary genre.

It was during the early American period that seditious plays, using the form of the zarsuwela, were
mounted. Zarsuwelistas Juan Abad, Aurelio Tolentino ,Juan Matapang Cruz. Juan Crisostomo Sotto
mounted the classics like Tanikalang Ginto, Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas and Hindi Ako Patay, all directed
against the American imperialists. Patricio Mariano’s Anak ng Dagat and Severino Reyes’s Walang
Sugat are equally remarkable zarsuwelas staged during the period.

On the eve of World War II, Wilfredo Maria Guerrero would gain dominance in theatre through his
one-act plays which he toured through his “mobile theatre”. Thus, Wanted a Chaperone and The
Forsaken Housebecame very popular in campuses throughout the archipelago.

The novel in Tagalog, Iloko, Hiligaynon and Sugbuanon also developed during the period aided
largely by the steady publication of weekly magazines like the Liwayway, Bannawag and Bisaya which
serialized the novels.

Among the early Tagalog novelists of the 20th century were Ishmael Amado, Valeriano Hernandez
Peña, Faustino Aguilar, Lope K. Santos and Lazaro Francisco.

Ishmael Amado’s Bulalakaw ng Pag-asa published in 1909 was one of the earliest novels that dealt
with the theme of American imperialism in the Philippines. The novel, however, was not released from
the printing press until 1916, at which time, the author, by his own admission and after having been sent
as a pensionado to the U.S., had other ideas apart from those he wrote in the novel.

Valeriano Hernandez Peña’s Nena at Neneng narrates the story of two women who happened to be
best of friends as they cope with their relationships with the men in their lives. Nena succeeds in her
married life while Neneng suffers from a stormy marriage because of her jealous husband.

Faustino Aguilar published Pinaglahuan, a love triangle set in the early years of the century when
the worker’s movement was being formed. The novel’s hero, Luis Gatbuhay, is a worker in a printery
who isimprisoned for a false accusation and loses his love, Danding, to his rival Rojalde, son of a wealthy
capitalist. Lope K. Santos, Banaag at Sikat has almost the same theme and motif as the hero of the novel,
Delfin, also falls in love with a rich woman, daughter of a wealthy landlord. The love story of course is
set also within the background of development of the worker’s trade union movement and throughout
the novel, Santos engages the readers in lengthy treatises and discourses on socialism and capitalism.
Many other Tagalog novelists wrote on variations of the same theme, i.e., the interplay of fate, love and
social justice. Among these writers are Inigo Ed Regalado, Roman Reyes, Fausto J. Galauran, Susana de
Guzman, Rosario de Guzman-Lingat, Lazaro Francisco, Hilaria Labog, Rosalia Aguinaldo, Amado V.
Hernandez. Many of these writers were able to produce three or more novels as Soledad Reyes would
bear out in her book which is the result of her dissertation, Ang Nobelang Tagalog (1979).

Among the Iloko writers, noted novelists were Leon Pichay, who was also the region’s poet laureate
then, Hermogenes Belen, and Mena Pecson Crisologo whose Mining wenno Ayat ti Kararwa is
considered to be the Iloko version of a Noli me Tangere.
 In the Visayas, Magdalena Jalandoni and Ramon Muzones would lead most writers in writing the
novels that dwelt on the themes of love, courtship, life in the farmlands, and other social upheavals of
the period. Marcel Navarra wrote stories and novels in Sugbuhanon.

Poetry in all languages continued to flourish in all regions of the country during the American
period. The Tagalogs, hailing Francisco F. Balagtas as the nation’s foremost poet invented
the balagtasan in his honor. Thebalagtasan is a debate in verse, a poetical joust done almost
spontaneously between protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of an issue.

The first balagtasan was held in March 1924 at the Instituto de Mujeres, with Jose Corazon de Jesus
and Florentino Collantes as rivals, bubuyog (bee) and paru-paro (butterfly) aiming for the love of
kampupot (jasmine). It was during this balagtasan that Jose Corazon de Jesus, known as Huseng Batute,
emerged triumphant to become the first king of the Balagtasan. Jose Corazon de Jesus was the finest
master of the genre. He was later followed by balagtasistas, Emilio Mar Antonio and Crescenciano
Marquez, who also became King of the Balagtasan in their own time.

As Huseng Batute, de Jesus also produced the finest poems and lyrics during the period. His debates
with Amado V. Hernandez on the political issue of independence from America and nationhood were
mostly done in verse and are testament to the vitality of Tagalog poetry during the era. Lope K. Santos,
epic poem, Ang Panggingera is also proof of how poets of the period have come to master the language
to be able to translate it into effective poetry.

The balagtasan would be echoed as a poetical fiesta and would be duplicated in the Ilocos as
thebukanegan, in honor of Pedro Bukaneg, the supposed transcriber of the epic, Biag ni Lam-ang; and
theCrissottan, in Pampanga, in honor of the esteemed poet of the Pampango, Juan Crisostomo Sotto.

In 1932, Alejandro G. Abadilla , armed with new criticism and an orientation on modernist poetry
would taunt traditional Tagalog poetics with the publication of his poem, “Ako ang Daigdig.” Abadilla’s
poetry began the era of modernism in Tagalog poetry, a departure from the traditional rhymed,
measured and orally recited poems. Modernist poetry which utilized free or blank verses was intended
more for silent reading than oral delivery.

Noted poets in Tagalog during the American period were Julian Cruz Balmaceda, Florentino
Collantes, Pedro Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Benigno Ramos, Inigo Ed. Regalado, Ildefonso
Santos, Lope K. Santos, Aniceto Silvestre, Emilio Mar. Antonio , Alejandro Abadilla and Teodoro
Agoncillo.

Like the writers in English who formed themselves into organizations, Tagalog writers also formed
the Ilaw at Panitik, and held discussions and workshops on the value of literature in society. Benigno
Ramos, was one of the most politicized poets of the period as he aligned himself with the peasants of
the Sakdal Movement.

Fiction in Tagalog as well as in the other languages of the regions developed alongside the novel.
Most fictionists are also novelists. Brigido Batungbakal , Macario Pineda and other writers chose to dwell
on the vicissitudes of life in a changing rural landscape. Deogracias Del Rosario on the other hand, chose
the city and the emerging social elite as subjects of his stories. He is considered the father of the modern
short story in Tagalog
 Among the more popular fictionists who emerged during the period are two women writers,
Liwayway Arceo and Genoveva Edroza Matute, considered forerunners in the use of “light” fiction, a
kind of story telling that uses language through poignant rendition. Genoveva Edroza Matute’s “Ako’y
Isang Tinig” and Liwayway Arceo’s “Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa” have been used as models of fine writing
in Filipino by teachers of composition throughout the school system.

Teodoro Agoncillo’s anthology 25 Pinakamahusay na Maiikling Kuwento (1945) included the

foremost writers of fiction in the pre-war era.

The separate, yet parallel developments of Philippine literature in English and those in Tagalog and
other languages of the archipelago during the American period only prove that literature and writing in
whatever language and in whatever climate are able to survive mainly through the active imagination of
writers. Apparently, what was lacking during the period was for the writers in the various languages to
come together, share experiences and come to a conclusion on the elements that constitute good
writing in the Philippines.