2. Literature Under The Republic
(1946-1985)
The Japanese occupation
leaves the Philippine economy in
ruins and it seemed that massive
foreign aid could rebuild it. With
the life of the Filipinos hanging in
the balance because of hunger,
insecurity and terror. Many
Filipinos resorted to collaborating
with the Japanese for reasons
such as politics, survival and
opportunity. After the Pacific War
ended, collaborators were given
amnesty by President Manual
Roxas. The amnesty was a result
This in turn put the
Filipino ruling elite’s credibility at
stake because ambiguities and
irregularities that was not
resolved. The US colonialist also
linked the issue of collaboration
not as a political will but as a
means of survival (expediency). If
a rigid trial was done to the
detractors, many of the Filipino
ruling elite would loose their
credibility and this was not
favorable to the US colonizers
because at that time the elites
were the intermediary between
the American colonizers and the
Filipinos. The elites had a lot of
influence to the masses, and the
US wanted to tap their services
and use them as leverage.
3. To secure the new
republics alliance with the US
after its independence was
granted a series of treaties and
agreements were signed, and
these strengthened the ties
between the two countries. The
Bell Trade act, imposed free
trade which enforced imports
from US for 28 years and parity
rights allowing US citizens to
have equal rights to access to
the countries natural resources.
The Philippine Rehabilitation Act
together with the Bell Trade act
which allowed the US to use the
Philippines for their military
With the US serving as
crutches to the Philippines,
westernization occurred. The
Educational Exchange Program
otherwise known as the Fulbright
Program was the key to the
Philippines assimilation of US culture
– the program actually aimed a 2-
way exchange of culture, but this
did not actually happen. This was the
time when Filipino artist, writers,
and musicians were given a chance to
go to the US to learn about the
country, they also were given
lecturing privilege. The impact of
this program can be seen in terms or
the artwork and literature that
showed in their works that they are
able to keep up with the literary and
artistic trends of the US during that
time. They were introduced to what
was called the New Criticism. A
method which emphasized close
analysis of text and structure rather
than analysis of social or biographical
contexts. This paved the way for a
5. Was Filipino writer
known for his novels
such as Ama and
Daluyong. He was
awarded the National
Artist for Filipino
Literature in 2009.
Francisco also
received the Republic
Cultural Heritage
Award for Literature
in 1970.
6. September 13, 1903–
March 24, 1970, was a
Filipino writer and labor
leader who was known for
his criticism of social
injustices in the
Philippines and was later
imprisoned for his
involvement in the
communist movement. He
was the central figure in
a landmark legal case that
took 13 years to settle.
He was born in
Hagonoy, Bulacan but
grew up Tondo, Manila,
where he studied at the
Manila High School and at
7. He was born on April 29,1932 in
MaTorres obtained his BA
Education at the Ateneo de
Manila University, and in 1957,
on a Fulbright-Smith-Mundt
fellowship, he obtained his M.A.
in English at the State
University of Iowa where he
enjoyed an International
Scholarship in Creative Writing
and attended Paul Engle’s
Writers’ Workshop. He joined
the Ateneo faculty in 1958, and
since 1960 was curator of the
Ateneo University Art Gallery.
At the Ateneo, he held the
Henry Lee Erwin Chair in
Creative Writing and the
FEBTC/Jose B. Fernandez Chair
for art research. In addition to
the extensive local and
international recognition he
received for his work in the arts
and letters, Torres was art
Emmanuel Torres
is a poet, art critic ,
professor of English and
Comparative Literature
at the Ateneo de Manila
8. On 14 April 1987, the
University of the Philippines
conferred on N.V.M. González the
degree of Doctor of Humane
Letters, honoris causa, "For his
creative genius in shaping the
Philippine short story and novel,
and making a new clearing within
the English idiom and tradition on
which he established an authentic
vocabulary, ...For his insightful
criticism by which he advanced the
literary tradition of the Filipino
and enriched the vocation for all
writers of the present
generation...For his visions and
auguries by which he gave the
Filipino sense and sensibility a
profound and unmistakable script
read and reread throughout the
international community of
letters...“ N.V.M. González was
proclaimed National Artist of the
Philippines in 1997. He died on 28
November 1999 in Quezon City,
He was born on 8
September 1915 in Romblon,
Philippines. González,
however, was raised in
Mansalay, a southern town
of the Philippine province of
9. Alejandro G.
Abadilla (March 10, 1906–
August 26, 1969),
commonly known as AGA,
was a Filipino poet,
essayist and fiction
writer. Critic Pedro
Ricarte referred to
Abadilla as the father of
modern Philippine poetry,
and was known for
challenging established
forms and literature's
"excessive romanticism
and emphasis on rime and
meter". Abadilla helped
found the Kapisanang
Panitikan in 1935 and
edited a magazine called
10. After being read poems
and stories by his mother, the
boy Joaquín read widely in his
father's library and at the
National Library of the
Philippines. By then, his father
had become a successful lawyer
after the revolution. From
reading, Joaquín became
interested in writing. Was a
Filipino writer, historian and
journalist, best known for his
short stories and novels in the
English language. He also wrote
using the pen name Quijano de
Manila. Joaquin was conferred
the rank and title of National
Artist of the Philippines for
Literature. He is considered[by
whom?] one of the most important
Filipino writers in English, and
the third most important
overall, after José Rizal and
Claro M.
Nicomedes Márquez
Joaquín was born in Paco, Manila,
one of ten children of Leocadio
Joaquín, a colonel under General
Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1896
Revolution, and Salome Márquez,
a teacher of English and Spanish.
11. Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig(Novel)
By: Lazaro Francisco
Nobela ni Lazaro Francisco, ang Maganda pa ang
Daigdig (1955) ay naglalahad sa buhay ni Lino Rivera. Si
Lino ay anak ng magsasaka at dumanas ng pagdurusa sa
sistemang piyudal. Nagbalik siya sa Pinyahan makaraan ang
digmaan, at hinanap ang kaniyang anak na si Ernesto.
Makikilala niya si Kumander Hantik na hihimukin siyang
sumama sa kilusan upang wakasin ang bulok na sistemang
agraryo. Tatanggi si Lino. Darating sa buhay niya si Pari
Amando na nag-aari ng malalawak na lupain at
magpapanukala ng pagbabago. Tahimik na sana ang
pamumuhay ni Lino, lalo na't napaibig siya kay Bb.
Sanchez. Darating ang sandali na masasangkot siya sa
gulong, at pagbibintangang pumatay sa isang lalaki.
Mabibilanggo siya, ngunit makatatakas, kasama ang iba
pang bilanggo, at magbabalik sa kaniyang lalawigan. Ang
pangkat ni Lino ang magsisilbing tagapagtanggol ng
naaaping magsasaka. Sasapi rin siya sa pangkat ni Don
Tito, na isang makapangyarihang panginoong maylupa.
Magwawakas ang nobela sa bakbakan ng mga rebelde at
tropa ng pamahalaan. Pagkaraan, maihahayag na walang
12. Walking Home (Poem)
By: Emmanuel S. Torres
At midnight I and a stranger
drowse
toward separate homes.
The crunch of small stones
underfoot
reminds us how far we are
from each other, although our
shadows
would include each other more
than once, streaming forward
from the streetlight behind us
brightening the loneliness
of the steps toward sleep.
At the fork of the road, we part
13. A Merger Of Traditions.
The taga-bukid and
taga-bayan were the two
cultures that made up the
political entities. The
educated and the wealthy
and the ones who lacked the
education and therefore did
not qualify to exercise
power. The taga bayan were
more inclined to the culture
of the Free World, while the
taga-bukid was the
nationalistic and anti
American.
14. A transition from the Euro-
Hispanic (socially conscious, deals
with reality) period to the Anglo-
American (thrived more on
aesthetic qualities and was full of
sentimentality and escapism) period
of literature in the Philippines was
brought about by Villa, the
contradictions between the two
styles resulted in the emphasis of
a crisis for the Anglo American
Tradition. It was later resolved in
the 1970s. These two traditions
had been implanted with indigenous
traditions and through the efforts
of the Filipino writers can be
clearly called the Filipino literary
tradition.
15. Existentialism and the Search for Identity.
When President Ramon Magsaysay died
of a plan crash in Cebu, this provoked an
intellectual crisis. Claro M. Recto criticized
President Ramon Magsaysay for being
submissive to the US, with the death of
Ramon Magsaysay; the country was under
confusion and the people beginning to ask
Recto for some answers that would shed some
light regarding the country’s political
philosophy. However Recto was not able to
finish what he started because he dies in
Rome of a heart attack. With Recto’s death,
the cultural scene in the Philippines became an
extension of the US; many major publications
in New York were brought to the Manila.
Literary works included were poetry, fiction
and drama, the latest literary fads in the
west spread like wildfire. Some of the
creative writers whose works were read by
Filipinos were Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus,