LITERATURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: FOLK STORIES, FLIP TOP AND BALAGTASAN (DEBATE POETRY)

LITERATURE IN THE PHILIPPINES

There is an extensive literature in the Philippines in English, Spanish, Tagaolog and other Philippine languages. It includes novels, poetry, drama, essays and criticism. literature draws from oral traditions, folklore, the influence of the Church, and Spanish and American literature. Filipino written literature became popular in the mid-nineteenth century when the middle class was educated. The greatest historical literature emerged from the independence movement. José Rizal aroused the country with his two influential political novels that challenged Spanish rule and stirred nationalist sentiment. [Source: Sally E. Baringer, Countries and Their Cultures, Gale Group Inc., 2001]

Philippine literature evolved significantly over the centuries. Once primarily oral, it adopted the Latin alphabet and expanded through religious forms such as the pasyon (narratives of Christ’s Passion), sinakulo (religious plays), and moro-moro (dramas depicting Christian-Muslim conflicts). Secular literary forms like the awit and corrido also emerged. [Source: “Culture Shock!: Philippines” by Alfredo Roces and Grace Roces, Marshall Cavendish International, 2010]

During the early years of American control, literature was written in English. The English and American literature taught in schools influenced the type of writing produced. Writing in Filipino languages became more common in the late 1930s and during the Japanese occupation. Today, literature is written in both Filipino and English. Textbooks contain national and world literature.

Famous Filipinos Writers

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Fernando M. Guerrero (1873–1929) was the greatest Philippine poet in Spanish. Contemporary writers who have won recognition include Claro M. Recto (1890–1960), José García Villa (1914–97), and Carlos Bulosan (1914–56). Dr. Jose P. Rizal, a Philippine national hero, published in Germany the first Filipino novel, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). This literary masterpiece exposed the Spanish political, economic, and sexual abuses in the Philippines. It and his other other famous work, “El Filubusterismo”, are regarded as moving romantic novels and inspirations for Philippine nationalism.

Famous Tagalog writers include the early 17th century poet Fernando Bagonbanta. Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz’s famous epic “Florante at Laura” is regarded as classic. He wrote under the name Balagtas is regarded as the “Prince of Tagalog Poets.” Written in the early 1900s “Florente at Laura” is a Filipino variation on the Romeo and Juliet theme.

Carlos Peña Rómulo (1899–1985) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, diplomat, and former president of the United Nations General Assembly. A distinguished statesman and writer, he served under multiple Philippine presidents and, in 1949, became president of the UN General Assembly—the only Asian to have received the Pulitzer Prize for journalism prior to World War II. His multifaceted career spanned roles as a reporter, editor, soldier, ambassador to Washington, Minister of Foreign Affairs, president of the University of the Philippines, and author of 18 books. [Source: “Culture Shock!: Philippines” by Alfredo Roces and Grace Roces, Marshall Cavendish International, 2010]

Modern Filipinos Writers

Acclaimed modern Filipino writers include Marilou Diaz-Abaya, author of “Milagros”. The Man Asian Literary Prize shortlisted Filipino author Eric Gamalinda for ‘Day Scholar’ in 2009.

Nick Joaquin is widely regarded as the Philippines’ greatest writer in English. He explored the nation’s Hispanic colonial heritage through plays, novels, poems, essays, and journalism under the pen name Quijano de Manila. His acclaimed play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino is considered a classic and has been translated into Filipino and adapted into film. His extensive works include The Woman Who Had Two Navels, Manila, My Manila, Almanac for Manileños, and A Question of Heroes. He was named National Artist for Literature in 1976.

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F. Sionil Jose was awarded the National Artist for Literature in 2001. He gained international recognition with novels translated into multiple languages. As founding president of the Philippine PEN Center, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in 1980. He also established Solidaridad, a publishing house and bookstore, while his novels Three Filipino Women and Dusk were published in the United States by Random House.

Concepción de León wrote in New York Times: For a more contemporary look at Philippine politics, one might turn to “Ilustrado” (2010) by Miguel Syjuco. Ostensibly about a fictional Syjuco’s quest to investigate the death of his invented mentor, Crispin Salvador, who is found dead in New York’s Hudson River, “Ilustrado” incorporates commentary on the political climate in the Philippines during the early aughts. As the fictional Syjuco sets out to find Salvador’s final and lost work, an amalgamation of 20 years of research that unravels the “cronyism” and “corruption” of the Filipino elite, news clippings are woven in — including a fictional interview with the Paris Review in which Salvador says, quite plainly, that politicians in the Philippines “should be presumed guilty until proven innocent,” implying that even the most saintly politicians may be hiding a corrupt streak. [Source: Concepción de León, New York Times, May 3, 2017]

Pre-Spanish Philippines Literature

Ilocano ballad-epics are good examples of the high level of pre-Hispanic culture. Ilocano is the language spoken in northern Luzon. The epics narrates the life and bravery of Lam-ang in his conquest of various indigenous groups on the main island of Luzon. [Source: Juanita Villena-Alvarez and Victoria Villena, World Education Encyclopedia, Gale Group Inc., 2001]

An oral tradition was passed down through generations in the form of poetry, ballads, songs, and dances. This oral literature, carried through the ages, shows an informal, unstructured form of education and training. Whether religious, festive, heroic, folk, seasonal, or about harvest, love, or war, songs, poetry, and dances represent the highest aspects of a culture. Parents and tribal tutors most likely passed down the oral tradition and provided instruction and other vocational training.

Juanita Villena-Alvarez and Victoria Villena wrote in the World Education Encyclopedia: Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the inhabitants of the archipelago were literate and had their own system of writing that they used for communication. This writing system is named Baybayin, which in Filipino means "to spell." Baybayin has seventeen basic symbols, three of which are vowel sounds. This writing system was used extensively by the inhabitants of the islands, as witnessed by the Spanish upon their arrival. Father Pedro Chirino, a Jesuit chronicler and historian for Miguel de Legazpi (an explorer and the first royal governor of the islands), reports in Relaciones de las Islas Filipinas that when he arrived in the islands in 1565, all the islanders, both men and women, were reading and writing. [Source:Juanita Villena-Alvarez and Victoria Villena, World Education Encyclopedia, Gale Group Inc., 2001]

Filipino Folklore

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Folk stories from the Philippines resemble folk stories from both Spain and Southeast Asia and have a character all their own. Philippines has thousands of tales; some dealing with the celestial, like the Sun and the Moon, while there are others that explain the mundane, like the origin of plants (rice, pineapple, etc.), animals (monkey, firefly) or things (rainbow). These stories are mostly used to coax obedience, good behavior and discipline; from grown-ups and children alike.

Why the Pineapple has a Thousand Eyes: As the name suggests, this is the story about the pineapple fruit and why it has so many eyes. This story instills hard-work and obedience in children. It is also a reminder to never utter words that might harm someone.

Once, there lived a girl named Pina, on a fruit plantation, with her mother. While her mother toiled night and day, little Pina would spend all her time playing with her friends. When her mother asked her to do something, she would always reply that she couldn't find the things, even if it was right in front of her eyes. One day, her mother fell ill and couldn't even get up to cook some food. So, she asked Pina to make some rice. But, Pina being her lazy self, said, "I just can't find the pot, so what am I going to make the rice in?". Her mother told her where the pot was. Then she said, "Where is the ladle, how am I going to cook without a ladle?". Again her sick mother had to tell her the exact location. Pina did the same with salt, rice and water! Enraged by Pina's behavior, her mother cursed, "May you grow a thousand eyes", and went back to sleep.

When she woke up, there was no trace of the girl. She searched and searched, and so did every single person on the plantation. After a few days, a strange fruit with thousands of little dots was seen on the plantation. When Pina's mother saw the fruit, she was immediately reminded of Pina's beautiful brown eyes and thus, the fruit with a thousand eyes was named "Pinya", meaning pineapple.

The Star Fairy: A star fairy, once strayed onto the Earth. Mesmerized by the beautiful sights, she dashed into a tree and fell down unconscious, her wings torn. A farmer found the divine creature. He took great care of her and inevitably they fell in love. The fairy and the farmer married and had a child. But every night, the fairy would look at the stars and think about her family and friends there. So, one day she decided to pay them a visit, and took off with her son. When she reached the star kingdom, the king was furious at her for straying too far, and confiscated her wings. She couldn't go back to her husband and became morose, looking down, for hours at the river near their house. The farmer too, would stand on its bank, waiting for his wife and child. One day, the king chanced upon the lovesick couple, and taking pity on them, made a bridge of seven gleaming colors for the fairy to climb down and spend a few precious moments with the farmer.

Philippine Folk Tales included in the collection by Mable Cook Cole(1916): 1) Aponibolinayen and the Sun, Aponibolinayen, Gawigawen of Adasen, The Story of Gaygayoma who Lives up Above, The Story of Dumalawi, The Story of Kanag, The Story of the Tikgi, The Story of Sayen, The Sun and the Moon, How the Tinguian Learned to Plant; 2) Magsawi: The Tree with the Agate Beads, The Striped Blanket, The Alan and the Hunters, Man and the Alan; 3) Sogsogot: The Mistaken Gifts, The Boy who Became a Stone, The Turtle and the Lizard, The Man with the Cocoanuts, The Carabao and the Shell, The Alligator's Fruit; 4) Igorot: The Creation, The Flood Story, Lumawig on Earth, How the First Head was Taken, The Serpent Eagle, The Tattooed Men, Tilin, The Rice Bird; 5) Mindanao, How the Moon and the Stars Came to Be, The Flood Story; 6) Magbangal: How Children Became Monkeys; 7) Bulanawan and Aguio: Origin; 8) Lumabet: The Story of the Creation, In the Beginning, The Children of the Limokon, The Sun and the Moon, The Widow's Son; 9) Moro: Mythology of Mindanao, The Story of Bantugan; 10) Christianized Tribes: The Monkey and the Turtle, The Poor Fisherman and His Wife, The Presidente who had Horns, The Story of a Monkey, The White Squash, The Creation Story, The Story of Benito, The Adventures of Juan, Juan Gathers Guavas, The Sun and the Moon, The First Monkey, The Virtue of the Cocoanut, Mansumandig, Why Dogs Wag their Tails, The Hawk and the Hen, The Spider and the Fly, The Battle of the Crabs; ) [Source: Mable Cook Cole, 1916],

Balagtasan

The balagtasan is a debate in poetic verse. It was created during the American Colonization of the Philippines, inspired by old forms of Philippine verse debate like the karagatan, Juego de Prenda and the duplo. Its name comes from the original surname of Francisco Baltazar, Balagtas, having been created to honor his birth anniversary.

The first balagtasan was held on 6 April 1924. Three sets of poets participated using scripted defenses. The debate between José Corazón de Jesús and Florentino Collantes was particularly impressive and the organizers decided to set up another balagtasan for the two distinguished poets, this time requiring improvised defenses. This was held on 18 October 1925, at the Olympic Stadium in Manila. De Jesus won the title of the first Hari ng Balagtasan (King of Balagtasan). Since then, balagtasan became a popular pastime until after World War II. Poets in other languages of the Philippines created their own versions like the Ilocano bukanegan (named after Ilocano poet Pedro Bukaneg) and the Pampango crisotan (named after Pampango poet-dramatist Juan Crisostomo Soto).

Mark Angeles wrote on gmanetwork.com: “Most of us are familiar with Francisco Balagtas because his metrical romance "Florante at Laura." Balagtas was so popular and well-respected that even Jose Rizal and Emilio Jacinto quoted him in their writings. The commemoration of his birth anniversary every April 2 has been a practice even before the early years of American occupation. [Source: Mark Angeles, gmanetwork.com, March 1, 2014 ^^]

“According to poet and literary critic Virgilio Almario, it was in the afternoon of March 28, 1924, at a meeting set in preparation for Balagtas Day, that the Balagtasan was born. Some attendees proposed an alternative for that year’s celebration, something fresh and exciting. And so Balagtasan was created, a variation of duplo, a native form of verbal joust played at funeral wakes. ^^

“The first Balagtasan was staged on April 2, 1924. Three pairs performed, but the crowd favorites were Jose Corazon de Jesus and Florentino Collantes. De Jesus, whose nom de plume was Huseng Batute, was already a popular poet even before the event. Amado V. Hernandez was also among those who participated. The bout between Huseng Batute and Collantes had a repeat on October 18, 1925, where the declamation was “freestyle”—spontaneous or free-flowing. It was where Huseng Batute earned the title Hari ng Balagtasan. Versions of the Balagtasan also sprang up in different provinces, like the Bukanegan in Ilocos (named after Ilocano epic poet Pedro Bukaneg) and Crisotan in Pampanga (named after the Pampango poet-dramatist Juan Crisostomo Soto). ^^

Flip Top

Mark Angeles wrote on gmanetwork.com: “Filipino rap battle league FlipTop has acquired many fans, mostly from the youth sector. Its Youtube account already has over 1.2 million subscribers. With almost 400 uploaded videos—the most popular being the Loonie/Abra versus Shehyee/Smugglaz tag team bout in the Dos Por Dos Tournament held at the FlipTop bastion, B-Side at The Collective in Makati City, with over 17 million views—it has surpassed the leagues in the United States that sired the format. [Source: Mark Angeles, gmanetwork.com, March 1, 2014 ^^]

“The phenomenon of FlipTop has grown as the number of Internet users in the Philippines has. It is popular in every part of the country that the Internet can reach, and where there is a culture of “collectivism” such as inside a computer shop. In freestyle rap, hurling the insult back at your opponent is called a “flip”. The group FlipTop held the very first Filipino Rap Battle League in the country on February 6, 2010 at Quantum Café in Makati where rappers (also known as MCs) Fuego, Protégé, Datu, and Cameltoe battled onstage. ^^

“FlipTop is an events and artist managing organization led by Alaric Riam Yuson, more popularly known as Anygma. Anygma gave honor to our nation when the Tectonics battle rap was held at Katips Bar and Grillery in Quezon City in December 2010. Dirtbag Dan led the MCs from Grind Time Now, a US-based group that set the international standards of rap battle. All the three battles that day were won by Filipino MCs. And on that day, FlipTop gained worldwide recognition. ^^

“At present, FlipTop has thriving divisions in the NCR, CALABARZON, Central Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, where battle events are held at least once a year. FlipTop has gained traction not just in social networking sites like Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. Independent inter-barangay and inter-collegiate tournaments—among students and out of school youth—have sprung up. FlipTop has even become a subject in classes on popular culture and a topic of theses. The celebration of Linggo ng Wika has never been the same, after universities and secondary schools in different parts of the country included FlipTop in their roster of competitions related to the celebration of our native language. ^^

FlipTop: Modern-day Balagtasan?

Mark Angeles wrote on gmanetwork.com: “Some academics have called Fliptop the modern Balagtasan—to the dismay of some battle rappers. Literary critic Bienvenido Lumbera had observed that even Marcelo del Pilar used the duplo and turned it against the colonizers. It is easy for someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of hip hop and alternative rap to pick up FlipTop as the modern-day Balagtasan, mainly because of the two elements present: verbal jousts and the seeming rhyme and meter when the rappers, emcees or MCs drop their bars or verses. [Source: Mark Angeles, gmanetwork.com, March 1, 2014 ^^]

“Some Filipino MCs assume the title of being a “makata”—not just a “mambeberso” who writes poetry, but someone approaching the rank of poet laureate. A “makata” knows his rules when it comes to rhyme and meter—at least, the basics of Filipino poetry like the first rank tugmaang karaniwan (general rhyme), rhyme schemes, and caesura. In Filipino poetry, words that end with the same vowel do not necessarily rhyme. Glottal stress matters. ^^

“There are liberal rules set in hip hop rap called internal and off-beat rhymes. There is a style called multisyllabic rhyme which Eminem employs. In our country, it is popularly known as “multi” and a lot of MCs are already skilled with it. The verse lines are called “bars", adapted from "music bar" or the musical duration. For a typical hip hop beat (4/4 time signature), a bar ranges from the first kick drum up to the second snare drum. ^^

“Though battle rap is a verbal joust, it is far from being the modern Balagtasan. As Almario had noted, Balagtasan poets are “expected to entertain their audience with bits of humor, with witticisms, with the spice of sarcasm, and moreover, with theatrics like actors in dramatic presentations.” Prominent FlipTop rapper BLKD (pronounced Balakid) said in an interview that “though both feature the nuances of poetry, there is a distinction between their sensitivities. They belong to different historical and cultural channels, and we have to recognize those attributes.” ^^

“The below-the-belt insults that imply drug use and having sexual relations with the opponent’s mother is a long shot from Balagtasan, or even its progenitor, the duplo. Yet there is a native form of Filipino poetry that closely resembles this attribute: a theatrical form of poetry in the Visayas region called bikal, a verbal game where the opponents (a male and a female, but sometimes pairs of two males versus two females) hurl insults at each other that lasts for an hour or two. It was a traditional game of mudslinging. ^^

“A Jesuit missionary named Francisco Ignacio Alcina, who was sent to Cebu, Leyte, and Samar was the first to have recorded this poetic form among the early locals of Samar and Leyte. BLKD thinks that FlipTop has a significant role in Filipino culture. “Many FlipTop followers watch to be entertained. FlipTop shows them that one can take pleasure in poetry, one can take pleasure in playing with words,” he said. He also noted that battle rap is an art form—that while insulting and poking fun at the opponent is part of the battle, "the audience is aware that the entertainment they gain from it comes from the skill of the emcee of choosing words, weaving lines, and rhyming them." At the very least, he said, "it influences the youth to study language, music, and stage performance." Surpassing the fame of Balagtasan, FlipTop is breeding more frontliners and followers, acquiring an esteemed spot in our country’s oral literature and as a performance art. “ ^^

Ghosts of Manila

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“Ghosts of Manila” is a novel by James Hamilton-Patterson. It is an arrival to the city observed, "Nothing had prepared me her for the sheer ugliness of this city, much of which looked like a parody of the grimmer parts of Milwaukee. Yes, that was it: that the faint traces of Europe had been swamped by the worst of pepsi-colonization."

The setting of the book is cemetery surrounded by shanties in which the ghost in the rich tombs have modern technology, air-conditioning and hot and cold running water. Hamilton-Patterson also describes policeman that fight crime by executing criminals and Chinese dry-cleaners who clean the flesh of skeletons for resale.

"An elementary school in Cavite has been closed for days because of a plague of black dwarves which had invaded classroom and pulled pupil's hair. The children described the dwarves as having black beards and being about as tall as a family-size Coke bottle."

"Manero was also an active member if a Christian cult called Tadtad, whose name meant something like 'The Choppers,' which specialized in hacking their victims with bolos and quickly eating their entails in front of their eyes before they could die as an act of ultimate dishonoring."

Manila Nit Happy About Dan Brown's "Inferno"

Dan Brown is the author of The Da Vinci Code. In 2013, Kate Hodal wrote in The Guardian, “He is better known for infuriating reviewers with his clunky pseudo-science and cheesy religious symbolism in thrillers that have sold all over the world. Now Dan Brown has also incurred the wrath of Manila for calling the capital the "gates of hell" in his latest book, Inferno. Based loosely on Dante's Inferno, the novel once again features Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon – the protagonist from best-sellers The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol – as it follows Sienna, his balding female companion, to the sprawling city of 13 million. There she is overcome by the city's destitution, filth and child prostitution – and is later raped in one of its many slums. Depicting Manila as a city of "six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution [and] horrifying sex trade", Sienna tells readers she has "run through the gates of hell". [Source: Kate Hodal, The Guardian, May 24, 2013 /^/]

“While the book has raced to the top of the UK book charts – selling nearly 230,000 copies within its first week – it has been panned by British reviewers, who have called it "barmy" and "dreadful". "I used to think that Dan Brown was merely bad. Now, after reading the latest version of the apocalyptic thriller he rewrites every few years, I suspect he might be mad as well," wrote Peter Conrad in the Observer. "Hogwarts Academy, compared with Brown's brain, is a clean, well-lighted, supremely lucid place."/^/

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“Dismissive reviews and the book's fictional nature haven't stopped Filipino officials from smarting at Brown's description of their capital city. In an open letter to the author, Metro Manila's chairman Francis Tolentino described the city's great "disappoint[ment] by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis" and said: "We are displeased [by] how you have used Manila as a venue and source of a character's breakdown and trauma, much more her disillusionment in humanity." /^/

“Tolentino then offered his own writerly take on the city, calling Manila "an entry to heaven" and a "centre of Filipino spirit, faith and hope", which some commentators on social media have deemed laughable and out of touch. "MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino is either blind or perhaps never leaves his guarded mansion without his chauffered limo with its tinted windows," commented one reader on the PhilStar website, describing Brown's depiction of the city as "near perfect". "If he is incapable of recognising the city and its citizens he is hired to improve and develop, he is clearly incapable of this position." /^/

“Manila may be a city where extreme wealth and poverty regularly rub shoulders — roughly 43 percent of its 13 million inhabitants live in shanties – but Filipino officials do not appreciate having their city publicly panned. In 1999 President Joseph Estrada famously banned from the country Hollywood starlet Claire Danes – whose film Brokedown Palace was shot in Manila – after she described the city as smelly, weird and full of rats. Estrada has since promised to clean up the capital after being elected mayor of Manila in last week's elections.” /^/

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; “Culture Shock!: Philippines” by Alfredo Roces and Grace Roces, Marshall Cavendish International, 2010; Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Geographic, Live Science, Philippines Department of Tourism, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated March 2026