Philippine literature were actually epics passed on from generation to generation, originally through an oral tradition.

1. SPANISH COLONIAL
AND PRE-COLONIAL
TEXT

2. PRE-COLONIAL
TEXT

3. • The oral literature of the pre-colonial Filipinos bore the
marks of the community. The subject was invariably the
common experience of the people constituting the
village-food-gathering, creature and objects of nature,
work in the home, field, forest or sea, caring for children,
etc.
• Thousands of maxims, proverbs, epigrams, and the like
have been listed by many different collectors and
researchers from many dialects.

4. • The bulk are rhyming couplets with verses of five, six
seven, or eight syllables, each line of the couplet having
the same number of syllables.
• Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays
in the Southeast Asia, a culture with traces of Indian,
Arabic, and, possibly Chinese influences.
• Their epics, songs, short poems, tales, dances and
rituals gave them a native Asian perspective which
served as a filtering device for the Western culture that
the colonizers brought over from Europe.

5. • Verses composed and sung were regarded as group
property.
• Versification:
• Octosyllabic
- legendary and religious poems.
• Dodecasyllabic
- Romance

6. EXAMPLES

7. Riddle(bugtong)
• Made of one or more measured lines with rhymes and
may consist of four to 12 syllables.
• Showcase the Filipino wit, literary talent, and keen
observation of the surroundings.
• Involves reference to one or two images that symbolize
the characteristics of an unknown object that is to be
guessed.

8. Examples of Riddles (bugtong):
• Q. What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
A. A clock!
• Q. What is the easiest way to double your money?
A. Put it in front of the mirror of course!
• Q. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
A. A glove.
• Q. What goes up and doesn’t come back down?
A. Your age.

9. • Q. What has a neck but no head?
A. A bottle.
• Q. What gets wetter as it dries?
A. A towel.

10. SALAWIKAIN/SAWIKAIN/PROVERBS
DEFINITIONS:
• A proverb is a short sentence that is very meaningful and aims to
provide guidance in everyday living.
• A short, well-known pithy saying, stating a general truth or piece of
advice.

11. DEFINITIONS:
• A proverb is a short sentence that is very meaningful
and aims to provide guidance in everyday living.
• A short, well-known pithy saying, stating a general truth
or piece of advice.

12. EXAMPLES OF PROVERBS
Kuwarta na, naging bato pa.
>What was already money turned to stone.
Ang isip ay parang itak, sa hasa tumatalas.
>The mind is like a knife honed by sharpening.
Kung anong bukang bibig ay siyang nilalaman ng
dibdib.
>What comes out of your mouth is what is in your
heart.

13. BULONG (CHANTS)
DEFINITIONS:
• Used in witchcraft or enchantments.
• Bulong is one kind of Filipino Poetry. Most of our
ancestors believe in unseen spirits/supernatural
beings like dwarfs. They ask for permission from them
so as not to have bad things happen to them.

14. EXAMPLES
• Ikaw ang magnanakaw ng Bigas ko,
Lumuwa sana ang mga mata mo,
Mamaga sana ang katawan mo,
Patayin ka ng mga Anito.
• -English-
You stole my rice,
May your eye bulge,
And your body swell,
Be killed by the Anitos(gods)
• Tabi, tabi po,
Ingkong
Makikiraan po
lamang.
Modern version :
• Tabi, Tabi po, nuno
Makikiraan po.

15. KASABIHAN OR SAYINGS
• Used in teasing or to comment on a persons’ acutations
• It is an often repeated and familiar expression. Example
of usage in sentence: That’s an old saying we have here
in the Philippines.

16. EXAMPLES
• Huwag kang magtiwala sa ‘di mo kakilala.
Never trust someone you don’t know. / Never trust a stranger.
• Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi
makararating sa paroroonan.
If you don’t know how to look back to where you came from, you
will not reach your destination.
• Walang mahirap na gawa ‘pag dinaan sa tiyaga.
Nothing’s hard to do if you pursue it through perseverance.
• Ang kaginhawaan ay nasa kasiyahan, at wala sa
kasaganahan.
Well-being is in happiness and not in prosperity.
• Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang wika ay mahigit pa sa
hayop at malansang isda.
A person who does not love his own language is worse than
beast and foul-smelling fish.

17. TANAGA
• A quatrain with seven syllables each with the same rhyme
at the end of each line
(KAIBIGAN)
ni Emelita Perez Baes
Ang katoto kapag tunay
hindi ngiti ang pang-alay
kundi isang katapatan
ng mataus na pagdamay
(PALAY)
ni Ildefonso Santos
Palay siyang matino,
Nang humangi’y yumuko;
Nguni’t muling tumayo
Nagkabunga ng ginto

18. AMBAHAN
• raditional poetry of the HanunooMangyans of Oriental
Mindoro which is normally inscribed on bamboo using a pre-
Colonial syllabic writing system called the SuratMangyan
• seven-syllable metric lines
• can be composed of more than four lines
• usually chanted
• teaches lessons about life
• recited by parents to educate their children, by the youth to
express their love, by the old to impart experiences, or by the
community in tribal ceremonies
• on some occasions like burial rites, the ambahan is used for
entertainment

19. EXAMPLE
Sugot nga maaw kunman
Tangdayan no ma-amban
Sabungan no manuywan
Impad las yami daywan
Hanggan buhok timbangan
Hanggan sa balod pangdan
Bugkat di way yamungan
Bilang dayi bunlagan
No kang tinaginduman
Kang magpahalimbaw-an
Ga bugtong ti bilugan
(Isn't this the truth with all:
If the wife is good and kind,
the husband reasonable,
you have always friends
around,
like long hair drooping so nice.
Till the final burial mount,
you'll be sleeping on one mat.
You don't want to separate
Putting down my thoughts like
this:
An example very clear, being
TWO, you're only ONE.

20. MYTHS
• derived from Philippine folk literature, which is the
traditional oral literature of the Filipino people. This refers
to a wide range of material due to the ethnic mix of the
Philippines
• There are many different creation myths in Philippine
mythology, originating from various ethnic groups.

21. EXAMPLE
• The Creation Story
• Tagalog
When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a
kite (a bird something like a hawk). One day the bird which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying
about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain
the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the
sky ordered the kite to light on one of the islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky
in peace . Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child
which was a bamboo. One day when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet
of the kite which was on the beach. The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the
bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman.
Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these
two, and it was decided that they should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from
them came all the different races of people.
After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children
around, and they wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on
and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation,
the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides.
This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms
in the house -- some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the
fireplace, and several fled to the sea.
Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the
chiefs of the islands; and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who
ran outside were free men; and those who hid in the fireplace became negroes; while those who fled
to the sea were gone many years, and when their children came back they were the white people.

22. FOLK SONGS
• a form of folk lyric which expresses the people’s hopes,
aspirations, and lifestyles
• repetitive and sonorous, didactic and naïve
• traditional songs and melodies
• inspired by the reaction of the people to their
environment

23. EXAMPLE
• A popular Visayan folk song is Dandansoy. Note that
this is not a Tagalog song. The Visayan language in
which Dandansoy is most often sung is Hiligaynon
Bisaya, also known as Ilonggo.
Dandansoy, bayaan ta icao
Pauli aco sa Payao
Ugaling con icao hidlauon
Ang Payaw imo lang lantauon.
Dandansoy, con imo apason
Bisan tubig di magbalon
Ugaling con icao uhauon
Sa dalan magbobonbobon.

24. COLONIAL TEXT

25. • 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 Spanish colonial strategy was to undermine the native
oral tradition by substituting for it the story of the Passion of
Christ
• 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.

26. T H E F I R S T F I L I P I N O A L P H A B E T C A L L E D A L I B ATA W A S R E P L A C E D B Y
T H E R O M A N A L P H A B E T.
THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF SPANISH ON THE PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE

27. • The teaching of the Christian Doctrine became
the basis of religious practices.

28. • The Spanish language which became the literary
language during this time lent many of its words to our
language.
• European legends and traditions brought here became
assimilated in our songs, corridos, and moro-moros.
• Ancient literature was collected and translated to
Tagalog and other dialects.

29. • Many grammar books were printed in Filipino, like
Tagalog, Ilocano and Visayan.
• Our periodicals during these times gained a religious
tone.

30. The First Books:
• Ang Doctrina Cristiana (The Christian Doctrine)
• Nuestra Senora del Rosario
• Libro de los Cuatro Postprimeras de Hombre
• Ang Barlaan at Josephat
• The Pasion
• Urbana at Felisa
• Ang mga Dalit kay Maria (Psalms for Mary)

31. LITERARY COMPOSITIONS
• Arte y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala (Art and Rules of
the Tagalog language)
• Compendio de la Lengua Tagala (Understanding
the Tagalog language)
• Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala (Tagalog
vocabulary)
• Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampanga (Pampango
vocabulary)

32. • Vocabulario de la Lengua Bisaya (Bisayan
vocabulary)
• Arte de la Lengua Ilokana (The Art of the Ilocano
language)
• Arte de la Lengua Bicolana (The Art of the Bicol
Language)

33. RECREATIONAL PLAYS

34. • CENAKULO
-Dramatic performance of the passion and death of Christ
• ZARZUELA
-”The father of drama,” a musical comedy or melodrama
three acts which death with men’s passion and emotions like
love, hate, revenge, cruelty , avarice or some political
problem.
• LAGAYLAY A
-special occasion for the pilareños of Sorsogon
during maytime to get together.

35. • Tibag
-Dramatic performance for the purpose of manifesting
devotion for the holy cross.
• PANULUYAN
-Philippine Christmas dramatic ritual narrating the whole
family’s search for a place to stay in Bethlehem for Jesus
Christ‘s birth through songs.
• SALUBONG
-Dramatizes the reunion of the risen Christ and his
mother.

36. • CARILLO
-A form of dramatic entertainment perform on a moonless night
during a town fiesta or on darknights after a harvest.
• SAINETE
-A short musical comedy popular during the 18th century.
They were exaggerated comedy shown between acts plays and
were mostly performed by characters from the lower class.
• THE MORO-MORO
- Like the Cenaculo, the Moro-Moro is presented also on a
special stage. This is performed during town fiestas to entertain the
people and to remind them of their Christian religion.
Example: “Prinsipe Rodante”

37. • KARAGATAN
-This is a poetic vehicle of a socio- religious nature
celebrated during the death of a person.
• DUPLO
-The Duplo replaced the Karagatan. This is a poetic
joust in speaking and reasoning.
• THE BALAGTASAN
-This is a poetic joust or a contest of skills in
debate on a particular topic or issue.

38. • THE DUNG-AW
-This is a chant in free verse by a bereaved person or his
representative beside the corpse of the dead.
• AWIT
-is in dodecasyllabic verse.
- are fabricated stories from writers’ imagination although the
setting and characters are European.
-refers to chanting
Example: Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas
• CORRIDO
- is in octosyllabic verse.
- were usually on legends or stories from European
countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece.
- refers to narration.
Example: Ibong Adarna by Jose de la Cruz

39. FOLK SONGS

40. • Examples
Leron-leron sinta (Tagalog)
Leron, leron sinta
Buko ng papaya,
Dala-dala'y buslo,
Sisidlan ng sinta,
Pagdating sa dulo'y
Nabali ang sanga
Kapos kapalaran,
Humanap ng iba.
Gumising ka, Neneng,
Tayo'y manampalok,
Dalhin mo ang buslong
Sisidlan ng hinog.
Pagdating sa dulo'y
Lalamba-lambayog,
Kumapit ka, neneng,
Baka ka mahulog.
Leron, leron sinta
Buko ng papaya,
Dala-dala'y buslo,
Sisidlan ng sinta,
Pagdating sa dulo'y
Nabali ang sanga
Kapos kapalaran,
Ang ibigin ko`y
Lalaking matapang,
Ang baril nya'y pito,
Ang sundang nya'y siyam
Ang sundang nya'y siyam
Ang lalakarin nya'y
Parte ng dinulang
Isang pinggang pansit
Ang kanyang kalaban.
Leron, leron sinta
Buko ng papaya,
Dala-dala'y buslo,
Sisidlan ng sinta,
Pagdating sa dulo'y
Nabali ang sanga
Kapos kapalaran,
Humanap ng iba

41. DANDANSOY (BISAYA)
Dandansoy, bayaan ta icao
Pauli aco sa Payao
Ugaling con icao hidlauon
Ang Payaw imo lang lantauon.
Dandansoy, con imo apason
Bisan tubig di magbalon
Ugaling con icao uhauon
Sa dalan magbobonbobon.

42. PAMULINAWEN (ILOKO)
Pamulinawen
Pusok imdengam man
Toy umas-asug
Agrayo ita sadiam.
Panunotem man
Dika pagintultulngan
Toy agayat, agruknoy ita emmam.
Issemmo diak kalipatan
Ta nasudi unay a nagan,
Ta uray sadin ti ayan,
Disso sadino man,
{Aw-awagak a di agsarday
Ta naganmo nga kasam-itan}
No malagipka, pusok ti mabang-aran
Adu nga sabsabong, adu nga rosrosas
Ti adda't ditoy, Nena, nga mabuybuyak,
Ngem awan manlaeng ti sabali nga liwliwak
No di la dayta sudim ken imnas.
No umulogak nga mapan magmagna
Dayta raniagmo, Neneng nga gapu kenka.

43. SARONG BANGGI (BICOL)
Sarung banggi sa higdaan
Nakadangog ako hinuni nin sarung gamgam;
Sa lubha ko katorogan
Bako kundi simong boses iyo palan..
Dagos ako bangon si sakuyang mata binuklat,
Kadtong kadikloman ako nangalagkalag,
Si sakong pagheling pasiring sa itaas,
Naheling ko simong lauog maliwanag.

44. ATIN CU PUNG SINGSING (KAPAMPANGAN)
KAPAMPANGAN LYRICS
Atin cu pung singsing
Metung yang timpucan
Amana que iti
Quing indung ibatan
Sancan queng sininup
Queng metung a caban
Mewala ya iti
E cu camalayan.
Ing sucal ning lub cu
Susucdul king banua
Picurus cung gamat
Babo ning lamesa
Ninu mang manaquit
Quing singsing cung mana
Calulung pusu cu
Manginu ya caya.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
I had a ring
With a beautiful gem
I inherited it
From my mother
I kept it very well
In a chest
But it just disappeared
Without my noticing.
The heartache within me
Is as high as the sky
My crossed hands
Are upon the table
Whoever can find
That ring I inherited
My poor heart
Shall forever worship.

45. THANK YOU!!!