Philippine Literature in the Spanish Colonial Period

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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 (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 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 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, 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.
Following closely on the failed reformist movement, and on Rizal’s novels, was
the Philippine revolution headed by Andres Bonifacio (1863 – 1897). His closest
aide, the college-bred Emilio Jacinto (1875 – 1899), was the revolutionary
organization’s 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. 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, Leona Florentino,
by her poetry, became the foremost Ilocano writer of her time.
About the Authors:
Francis C. Macansantos is a Palanca Literary Award veteran winning first prize for poetry in 198
in 1997.
Priscilla S. Macansantos has won in the 1998 Palanca Literary Awards for her poetry “Departur
Philippines.