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Philippine Literature under Spanish Colonial Period

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 protagonists 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 (Medina), who
were to rely mainly on their memory. But the 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 Christs 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).

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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

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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 latters 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.
Rizals 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.
In a sense, Rizals 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.
Following closely on the failed reformist movement, and on Rizals novels, was the Philippine
revolution headed by Andres Bonifacio (1863 1897). His closest aide, the college-bred Emilio
Jacinto (1875 1899), was the revolutionary organizations ideologue. Both were admirers of
Rizal, and like Rizal, both were writers and social critics profoundly influenced by the liberal
ideas of the French enlightenment, about human dignity. Bonifacios 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 Rizals 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

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of the Ilocano North, Leona Florentino, by her poetry, became the foremost Ilocano writer of her
time.