Read
(Medina), who were to rely mainly on their memory. But the
READINGS
Philippine Literature in the Spanish Colonial Period
FRANCIS C. MACANSANTOS
PRISCILLA S. MACANSANTOS
The existing literature of the Philippine ethnic groups at the
time of conquest and conversion into Christianity was mainly
oral, consisting of epics, legends, songs, riddles, and proverbs.
The conquistador, especially its ecclesiastical arm, destroyed
whatever written literature he could find, and hence rendered
the system of writing (e.g., the Tagalog syllabary) inoperable.
Among the only native systems of writing that have survived
are the syllabaries of the Mindoro Mangyans and the Tagbanua
of Palawan.
The Spanish colonial strategy was to undermine the native
oral tradition by substituting for it the story of the Passion of
Christ (Lumbera, p. 14). Although Christ was by no means war-
like or sexually attractive as many of the heroes of the oral epic
tradition, the appeal of the Jesus myth inhered in the
protagonist’s superior magic: by promising eternal life for
everyone, he democratized the power to rise above death. It is
to be emphasized, however, that the native tradition survived
and even flourished in areas inaccessible to the colonial power.
Moreover, the tardiness and the lack of assiduity of the colonial
administration in making a public educational system work
meant the survival of oral tradition, or what was left of it, among
the conquered tribes.
The church authorities adopted a policy of spreading the
Church doctrines by communicating to the native (pejoratively
called Indio) in his own language. Doctrina Christiana (1593),
the first book to be printed in the Philippines, was a prayerbook
written in Spanish with an accompanying Tagalog translation. It
was, however, for the exclusive use of the missionaries who
invariably read them aloud to the unlettered Indio catechumens
task of translating religious instructional materials obliged the
Spanish missionaries to take a most practical step, that of
employing native speakers as translators. Eventually, the native
translator learned to read and write both in Spanish and his
native language.
This development marked the beginning of Indio literacy
and thus spurred the creation of the first written literary native
text by the native. These writers, called ladinos because of their
fluency in both Spanish and Tagalog (Medina, pp. 55-56),
published their work, mainly devotional poetry, in the first
decade of the 17th century. Among the earliest writers of note
were Francisco de San Jose and Francisco Bagongbata
(Medina). But by far the most gifted of these native poet-
translators was Gaspar Aquino de Belen (Lumbera,
p.14). 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.
Until the 19th century, the printing presses were owned
and managed by the religious orders (Lumbera, p.13). 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 theduplo (Medina, p. 32).
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 (Lumbera, p. 15).
Jose de la Cruz (1746 – 1829) 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.
Francisco Baltazar (1788 – 1862), 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.
Great social and political changes in the world worked
together to make Balagtas’ career as poet possible. The
industrial revolution had caused a great movement of
commerce in the globe, creating wealth and the opportunity for
material improvement in the life of the working classes. With
these great material changes, social values were transformed,
allowing greater social mobility. In short, he was a child of the
global bourgeois revolution. Liberal ideas, in time, broke class
— and, in the Philippines — even racial barriers (Medina). The
word Filipino, which used to refer to a restricted group (i.e.,
Spaniards born in the Philippines) expanded to include not only
the acculturated wealthy Chinese mestizo but also the
acculturated Indio (Medina). Balagtas was one of the first Indios
to become a Filipino.
But the crucial element in Balagtas’ unique genius is that,
being caught between two cultures (the native and the
colonial/classical), he could switch codes (or was perceived by
his compatriot audience to be switching codes), provide insight
and information to his oppressed compatriots in the very style
and guise of a tradition provided him by a foreign (and
oppressive) culture. His narrative poem Florante at
Laura written in sublime Tagalog, is about tyranny in Albanya,
but it is also perceived to be about tyranny in his Filipino
homeland (Lumbera).
Despite the foreign influence, however, he remained true to
his native traditions. His verse plays were performed to the
motley crowd. His poems were sung by the literate for the
benefit of the unlettered. The metrical regularity and rhyme
performed their age-old mnemonic function, despite and
because of the introduction of printing.
Printing overtook tradition. The printed page, by itself,
became the mnemonic device, the stage set for the
development of prose. The first Filipino novel was Ninay,
written in Spanish by Pedro Paterno, a Philippine-
bornilustrado (Medina p. 93). Following the sentimental style of
his first book Sampaguitas (a collection of poems in Spanish),
the novel endeavored to highlight the endearingly unique
qualities of Filipinos.
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 theNoli, 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 Leona Florentino, by her poetry, became the foremost Ilocano
violent death. writer of her time.

In a sense, Rizal’s novels and patriotic poems were the
inevitable conclusion to the campaign for liberal reforms known
as the Propaganda Movement, waged by Graciano Lopez
Jaena, and M.H. del Pilar. The two novels so vividly portrayed
corruption and oppression that despite the lack of any clear
advocacy, they served to instill the conviction that there could
be no solution to the social ills but a violent one.
About the Authors:
Francis C. Macansantos is a Palanca Literary Award veteran
winning first prize for poetry in 1989 with UP Press publishing
his book “The Words and Other Poems” in 1997.
Priscilla S. Macansantos has won in the 1998 Palanca
Literary Awards for her poetry “Departures” and is now an
Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines

Following closely on the failed reformist movement, and on

Rizal’s novels, was the Philippine revolution headed by Andres Retrieved from:
Bonifacio (1863 – 1897). His closest aide, the college-bred
Emilio Jacinto (1875 – 1899), was the revolutionary http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-
organization’s ideologue. Both were admirers of Rizal, and like sca/literary-arts/philippine-literature-in-the-spanish-colonial-period/
Rizal, both were writers and social critics profoundly influenced
by the liberal ideas of the French enlightenment, about human
dignity. Bonifacio’s most important work are his poems, the
most well-known being Pag-Ibig Sa Tinubuang Lupa. Jacinto
wrote political essays expressed in the language of the folk.
Significantly, although either writer could have written in
Spanish (Bonifacio, for instance, wrote a Tagalog translation of
Rizal’s Ultimo Adios), both chose to communicate to their
fellowmen in their own native language.

The figure of Rizal dominates Philippine literature until the

present day. Liberalism led to education of the native and the
ascendancy of Spanish. But Spanish was undermined by the
very ideas of liberation that it helped spread, and its decline led
to nativism and a renaissance of literature in the native
languages.

The turn of the century witnessed not only the Philippine

revolution but a quieter though no less significant outbreak. The
educated women of the period produced significant poetry.
Gregoria de Jesus, wife of Andres Bonifacio, wrote notable
Tagalog poetry. Meanwhile, in Vigan of the Ilocano North,