The American Occupation

Our Filipino brethren often lose sight of the fact that our nation's literary history served as the
foundation and the backbone of our present, it is an undeniable factor that created our everlasting
and colourful culture. The influence that our ancestors experienced and absorbed from our
colonizers still linger today and we have used it to its fullest potential. Though we have
experienced oppression from one of our colonizers, the Spaniards, another country has set out to
help us and gave us momentary refuge, and it is America. The Americans have spurred our
literary history and have given influence significant enough to impact our society in the present.

For almost half a century, the United States governed the Philippines. As a colonial power, the
United States pursued policies that it rightfully believed would promote the social and material
wellbeing of the Filipinos. One such policy was the introduction of the American system of
education, and so pervasive and far-reaching was its impact and influence on the life and culture
of the Filipino during and after the colonial period that it is generally regarded as the "greatest
contribution" of American colonialism in the Philippines. The use of English as a 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 vibrant Philippine
Literature in English.

This combination of writing in a borrowed tongue while dwelling on Filipino customs and
traditions earmarked the literary output of major Filipino writers, poets, essayists, and fictionists.
The American Literary period has been a hallmark to prolific Filipino novels to arise, the novel
"Dead Stars", authored by Paz Martinez Benitez, showed the growth and maturity of Filipino
writers and their exemplary performance in the English Language. The American Literary period
is also where the first Balagtasan was commenced, in honour of the late Francisco Balagtas,
showing the Filipino's growth in English through poetry. English has been a mode of delivering
news, the state of the government, and opinions to the masses through essays and mass
publications.

Our American colonizers have given influence enough to survive several centuries up to the
present, as most of their mediums of communication and interaction are wildly used by our
modern world today. The influence of our celebrated writers during the American occupation has
also been used to educate the future generation in our country. 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 can survive as long as it is venerated and used.