Pre-Colonial Times

Pre-colonial inhabitants of our islands showcase a rich past through their folk speeches, folk songs, folk
narratives and indigenous rituals and mimetic dances that affirm our ties with our Southeast Asian
neighbors.

The Spanish Colonial Tradition

While it is true that Spain subjugated the Philippines for more mundane reasons, this former European
power contributed much in the shaping and recording of our literature.   Religion and institutions that
represented European civilization enriched the languages in the lowlands, introduced theater which we
would come to know as komedya, thesinakulo, the sarswela, the playlets and the drama. Spain also
brought to the country, though at a much later time, liberal  ideas and an internationalism that
influenced our own Filipino intellectuals and writers for them to understand the meanings of “liberty
and freedom.”  Literature in this period may be classified as religious prose and poetry and secular prose
and poetry.

The American Colonial Period

A new set of colonizers brought about new changes in Philippine literature. New literary forms such as
free verse [in poetry], the modern short story and the critical essay were introduced. American influence
was deeply entrenched with the firm establishment of English as the medium of instruction in all schools
and with literary modernism that highlighted the writer’s individuality and cultivated consciousness of
craft, sometimes at the expense of social consciousness.

The Contemporary Period

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.
Transcript of Historical Timeline of Philippine Literature
Ferdinand MagellanOn 16 March Magellan reached the island of Homonhon in the
Philippines, with 150 crew left. Members of his expedition became the first Spaniards to
reach the Philippine archipelago, but they were not the first Europeans.Magellan was
able to communicate with the native tribes because his Malay interpreter, Enrique, could
understand their languages. 
Ferdinand Magellan landed on Homonhon and Cebu ( MARCH 6, 1521 )
First Spanish settlement
(April 27, 1565)
López de Legazpi and his men sailed the Pacific Ocean for 93 days. On April 27, 1565,
the Spaniards and their native allies sailed back to Cebu and attacked the villages of
Rajah Tupas, which led to the surrender of the settlements. There, the Spaniards
established their colony, naming it "Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesús" (Town of the
Most Holy Name of Jesus), and "Villa de San Miguel".
Historical Timeline of Philippine Literature
Historical Background
Long time before the Spaniards and other foreigners landed onPhilippine shores, our
forefathers already had their own literature stamped inthe history of our race.

Our ancient literature shows our customs and traditions in everydaylife as traced in our
folk stories, old plays and short stories.
Our ancient ancestors also had their own alphabet which was differentfrom that brought
by the Spaniards. The first alphabet used by our ancestorswas similar to that of the
Malayo-Polynesian alphabet.

Whatever records our ancestors left were either burned by theSpaniards friars in the
belief that they were works of the devil or werewritten on materials that easily perished,
like the barks of trees, dried leavesand bamboo cylinders which could not have
remained undestroyed even if efforts were made to preserve them
Other records that remained showed folk songs that proved theexistence of a native
culture truly our own. Some of these were passed on byword of mouth till they reached
the hands of some publishers or printers whotook interest in printing the manuscripts of
the ancient Filipinos. 

The Spaniards who came to the Philippines tried to prove that ourancestors were really
fond of poetry, songs, stories, riddles and proverbswhich we still enjoy today and which
serve to show to generations the trueculture of our people.
Spanish Colonial Period
After the Spaniards succeeded in 1556 to break the last good organized resistance, a
long period of Spanish influence followed. The Spaniards ruled the country, brought the
Christian religion to the country and were responsible for a lot of colonial and religious
buildings throughout the country. 
The results can still be seen in places as for instance Cebu City and Manila.
Wall of Intramuros in Manila, a remnant of the Spanish colonial period
The arrival of the first spaniards
In 1521 the Spanish period started with the arrival of a small fleet in the coastal waters
of Mactan island, just east of Cebu island. It was Fernao de Magelhaes (Ferdinand
Magellan), a Portuguese in service of the Spanish King. He claimed the country for the
Spanish King. 
Spanish expedition and colonization
Although there had been at least two individual European visitors, the first European
expedition to explore the Philippine archipelago was that led by Ferdinand Magellan, in
the service of the king of Spain. The expedition first sighted the mountains of Samar at
dawn on the 
16th March 1521,
making landfall the following day at the small, uninhabited island of Homonhon at the
mouth of the Leyte Gulf.

On Easter Sunday, 
31 March 1521
, at Masao, Butuan, (now in Agusan del Norte), Magellan solemnly planted a cross on
the summit of a hill overlooking the sea and claimed possession of the islands he had
seen for the king of Spain, naming them Archipelago of Saint Lazarus
Magellan sought alliances among the natives beginning with Datu Zula, the chieftain of
Sugbu (now Cebu), and took special pride in converting them to Catholicism. Magellan's
expedition got involved in the political rivalries between the Cebuano natives and took
part in a battle against Lapu-Lapu, chieftain of Mactan island and a mortal enemy of
Datu Zula. At dawn on
27 April 1521
, Magellan invaded Mactan Island with 60 armed men and 1,000 Cebuano warriors, but
had great difficulty landing his men on the rocky shore. Lapu-Lapu had an army of 1,500
on land. Magellan waded ashore with his soldiers and attacked the Mactan defenders,
ordering Datu Zula and his warriors to remain aboard the ships and watch. Magellan
seriously underestimated the Lapu-Lapu and his men, and grossly outnumbered,
Magellan and 14 of his soldiers were killed. The rest managed to reboard the ships.
(See Battle of Mactan)
The battle left the expedition with too few crewmen to man three ships, so they
abandoned the "Concepción". The remaining ships - "Trinidad" and "Victoria" - sailed to
the Spice Islands in present-day Indonesia. From there, the expedition split into two
groups. The Trinidad, commanded by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinoza tried to sail
eastward across the Pacific Ocean to the Isthmus of Panama. Disease and shipwreck
disrupted Espinoza's voyage and most of the crew died. Survivors of the Trinidad
returned to the Spice Islands, where the Portuguese imprisoned them. The Victoria
continued sailing westward, commanded by Juan Sebastián de El Cano, and managed
to return to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain in 
1522
. In 
1529
, Charles I of Spain relinquished all claims to the Spice Islands to Portugal in the treaty
of Zaragoza. However, the treaty did not stop the colonization of the Philippine
archipelago from New Spain.
After Magellan's voyage, subsequent expeditions were dispatched to the islands. Four
expeditions were sent: that of Loaisa 
(1525)
, Cabot 
(1526)
, Saavedra 
(1527)
, Villalobos
(1542),
and Legazpi
(1564)
.The Legazpi expedition was the most successful as it resulted in the discovery of the
tornaviaje or return trip to Mexico across the Pacific by Andrés de Urdaneta.This
discovery started the Manila galleon trade, which lasted two and a half centuries.
In 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands of Leyte and Samar Las Islas
Filipinas after Philip II of Spain. Philip II became King of Spain on 
January 16, 1556
, when his father, Charles I of Spain, abdicated the Spanish throne. Philip was in
Brussels at the time and his return to Spain was delayed until 
1559 
because of European politics and wars in northern Europe. Shortly after his return to
Spain, Philip ordered an expedition mounted to the Spice Islands, stating that its
purpose was "to discover the islands to the west". In reality its task was to conquer the
Philippines for Spain
On 
November 19 or 20, 1564
a Spanish expedition of a mere 500 men led by Miguel López de Legazpi departed
Barra de Navidad, New Spain, arriving off Cebu on 
February 13, 1565, not
landing there due to Cebuano opposition.In 
1569
, Legazpi transferred to Panay and founded a second settlement on the bank of the
Panay River. In
1570
, Legazpi sent his grandson, Juan de Salcedo, who had arrived from Mexico in 
1567
, to Mindoro to punish Moro pirates who had been plundering Panay villages. Salcedo
also destroyed forts on the islands of Ilin and Lubang, respectively South and Northwest
of Mindoro.[
In 
1570
, Martín de Goiti, having been dispatched by Legazpi to Luzon, conquered the Kingdom
of Maynila (now Manila).Legazpi then made Maynila the capital of the Philippines and
simplified its spelling to Manila. His expedition also renamed Luzon Nueva Castilla.
Legazpi became the country's first governor-general. With time, Cebu's importance fell
as power shifted north to Luzon. The archipelago was Spain's outpost in the orient and
Manila became the capital of the entire Spanish East Indies. The colony was
administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain (now Mexico) until 1821 when
Mexico achieved independence from Spain. After 1821, the colony was governed
directly from Spain.
During most of the colonial period, the Philippine economy depended on the Galleon
Trade which was inaugurated in 
1565
between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico. Trade between Spain and the Philippines was
via the Pacific Ocean to Mexico (Manila to Acapulco), and then across the Caribbean
Sea and Atlantic Ocean to Spain (Veracruz to Cádiz). Manila became the most
important center of trade in Asia between the 
17th and 18th centuries
. All sorts of products from China, Japan, Brunei, the Moluccas and even India were
sent to Manila to be sold for silver 8-Real coins which came aboard the galleons from
Acapulco. These goods, including silk, porcelain, spices, lacquerware and textile
products were then sent to Acapulco and from there to other parts of New Spain, Peru
and Europe.
The European population in the archipelago steadily grew although natives remained
the majority. They depended on the Galleon Trade for a living. In the later years of the 
18th century
, Governor-General Basco introduced economic reforms that gave the colony its first
significant internal source income from the production of tobacco and other agricultural
exports. In this later period, agriculture was finally opened to the European population,
which before was reserved only for the natives.
During Spain’s 333 year rule in the Philippines, the colonists had to fight off the Chinese
pirates (who lay siege to Manila, the most famous of which was Limahong in 
1574
), Dutch forces, Portuguese forces, and indigenous revolts. Moros from western
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago also raided the coastal Christian areas of Luzon
and the Visayas and occasionally captured men and women to be sold as slaves.
Some Japanese ships visited the Philippines in the 
1570
s in order to export Japanese silver and import Philippine gold. Later, increasing imports
of silver from New World sources resulted in Japanese exports to the Philippines
shifting from silver to consumer goods. In the 
1580s
, the Spanish traders were troubled to some extent by Japanese pirates, but peaceful
trading relations were established between the Philippines and Japan by
1590
. Japan's kampaku (regent), Toyotomi Hideyoshi, demanded unsuccessfully on several
occasions that the Philippines submit to Japan's suzerainty.
On 
February 8, 1597
, King Philip II, near the end of his 42-year reign, issued a Royal Cedula instructing
Francisco de Tello de Guzmán, then Governor-General of the Philippines to fulfill the
laws of tributes and to provide for restitution of ill-gotten taxes taken from the natives.
The decree was published in Manila on 
August 5, 1598
. King Philip died on
13 September
, just forty days after the publication of the decree, but his death was not known in the
Philippines until middle of 
1599
, by which time a referendum by which the natives would acknowledge Spanish rule
was underway. With the completion of the Philippine referendum of 
1599,
Spain could be said to have established legitimate sovereignty over the Philippines
Philippine Literature in the Spanish Colonial Period
Until the 19th century, the printing presses were owned and managed by the religious
orders . Thus, religious themes dominated the culture of the Christianized majority. But
the native oral literature, whether secular or mythico-religious continued. Even among
the Christianized ethnic groups, the oral tradition persisted in such forms as legends,
sayings, wedding songs such as the balayan and parlor theater such as the duplo 
Doctrina Christiana (1593), the first book to be printed in the Philippines, was a
prayerbook written in Spanish with an accompanying Tagalog translation
Mahal Na Pasion ni Jesu Christo, a Tagalog poem based on Christ’s passion, was
published in 1704. This long poem, original and folksy in its rendition of a humanized,
indeed, a nativized Jesus, is a milestone in the history of Philippine letters. Ironically --
and perhaps just because of its profound influence on the popular imagination -- as
artifact it marks the beginning of the end of the old mythological culture and a
conversion to the new paradigm introduced by the colonial power.
In the 18th century, secular literature from Spain in the form of medieval ballads inspired
the native poetic-drama form called the komedya, later to be called moro-moro because
these often dealt with the theme of Christians triumphing over Moslems
was the foremost exponent of the komedya during his time. A poet of prodigious output
and urbane style, de la Cruz marks a turning point in that his elevated diction
distinguishes his work from folk idiom (as for instance, that of Gaspar Aquino de Belen).
Yet his appeal to the non-literate was universal. The popularity of the dramatic form, of
which he was a master, was due to it being experienced as performance both by the
lettered minority and the illiterate but genuinely appreciative majority.
Jose de la Cruz (1746 - 1829)
popularly called Balagtas, is the acknowledged master of traditional Tagalog poetry. Of
peasant origins, he left his hometown in Bigaa, Bulacan for Manila, with a strong
determination to improve his lot through education. To support his studies, he worked
as a domestic servant in Tondo. He steeped himself in classical studies in schools of
prestige in the capital.
Francisco Baltazar (1788 - 1862)
National Hero Jose Rizal (1861 - 1896)
chose the realistic novel as his medium. Choosing Spanish over Tagalog meant
challenging the oppressors on the latter’s own turf. By writing in prose, Rizal also cut his
ties with the Balagtas tradition of the figurative indirection which veiled the supposed
subversiveness of many writings at that time.
Rizal’s two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo, chronicle the
life and ultimate death of Ibarra, a Filipino educated abroad, who attempts to reform his
country through education. At the conclusion of the Noli, his efforts end in near-death
and exile from his country. In the Filibusterismo, he returns after reinventing himself as
Simoun, the wealthy jeweler, and hastens social decay by further corrupting the social
fabric till the oppressed react violently to overthrow the system. But the insurrection is
foiled and Simoun suffers a violent death.
Philippine Literature in the Pre-Spanish Colonial Period
LEGENDS - Are forms of prose, the common theme of which is about the origin of a
thing,place, location or name. The events are imaginary, devoid of truth
andunbelievable. Its aim is to entertain

FOLK TALES 
made up of stories about life, adventure, love, horror and humor where onecanderive
lessons about life. These are useful to us because they help usappreciate our
environment, evaluate our personalities and improve our perspectives in life.
EPIC 
are long narrative poems in which a series of heroic achievements or events, usually of
a hero, are dealt with at length. Nobody can determine which epics are the
oldestbecause in their translations from other languages, even in English and Spanish

FOLK SONGS 
folk songs are one of the oldest forms of Philippine literature that emergedIn the Pre-
Spanish period. These songs mirrored the early forms of culture. Many of these have 12
syllables

Epigrams (Salawikain)- These have been customarily used and served as laws or rules
ongood behavior by our ancestors. To others, these are like allegoriesor parables that
impart lessons for the young
RIDDLES (Bugtong or Palaisipan) -These are made up of one or more measured lines
with rhyme and may consist of 4 to 12 syllabes
Contemporary Period
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 literatures of the regions, the audience for Filipino writers is
virtually assured. And, perhaps, a national literature finding its niche among the
literatures of the world will not be far behind.
Macario Pineda (1946)

Ginto Sa Makiling 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.
Lazaro Francisco
the eminent Tagalog novelist of the pre-war years, was to continue to produce
significant work
BayaningNagpatiwakal (1932)
Ilaw Sa Hilaga (1948)
Sugat Sa Alaala (1950)
Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig (1956)
Daluyong (1962)
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
ONOMATOPOEIA - The use of owrds that imitate the sounds associated with the
objects or actions they refer to.
MESSAGES IN POETRY - The idea about life that a poet writes about is called the
theme or message of the poem
FREE VERSE - A poem that has no regular rhyme or rhythm
CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIP
USING ADJECTIVES - Is a word that describes, limits, or points out a noun.
MAKING CLEAR AND CORRECT COMPARISON