PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Prepared by: Mary Antonette G. Spandonis, CPA

Spanish Colonization
American Colonizers
Japanese Colonizers
WORLD WAR II
 About the author:

MAXIMO D. RAMOS

 Born in San Narciso, Zambales in 1910

 He was a recipient of Hugo H. Miller Memorial Scholar

where he took his M.A. in English at Indiana University

 He was a former head of the Englgish Department in

Philippine Normal University (PNU)

 Became the Dean of College of Liberal Arts of the

University of the East.
 When I See a Barong-barong
(Maximo Ramos)

When I see a barong-barong neighborhood in the heart of

war-torn Manila;

When I behold beside the Pasig sudden lean-tos defended

against sun and rain with salvaged sheets of tin;

When I take a truck ride through Suburbia and find Nipa huts
clustered within the shell-punched walls of former mansions of
stone –

I do not look away in shame or throw up my hands despairing

for my people.
I fill my chest with the bracing breeze of this my country and
say:

Though my race has been pushed around in his own land for
nearly half a thousand years,

Though my people have been double-crossed again and again

by foreigners,

Though my race has been pitted against themselves down the

centuries;

I joy to discover that they are whole and remained unbroken in

spirit;

Building them makeshift huts of Nipa and salvaged tin and

standing straight with heads against the stars.
Analysis:
 The poem was written shortly after the Liberation of Manila,
(March 4, 1945) when bombed areas of the city were renewed
by the sprouting of sorry-looking ensemble of rags, sacks,
wood and tin comprising makeshift homes for struggling,
impoverished Filipinos.

 Barong-barong is type of housing was commonly seen along

riverbanks or under the bridges, put up by “squatters”, a rather
offensive term for illegal settlers.
 The poem depicts a strong sense of nationalism, showing a
positive regard for one’s fellowmen during times of great
depression

 The respect he manifested was driven by the admiration for

people to continue living despite the heavy aftermath of the
war. A complete application of the poem in the modern
context may prove to be inappropriate due to the difference of
setting.

 When I See a Barong-Barong was a defiant piece of literature

in such a way that it challenges people to look at ugly things
in their country and manage to see the beauty of their race as
well as to rise up from the ashes and continue living.
THANK YOU!