This document provides an overview of pre-colonial and Spanish colonial Philippine literature. It describes various pre-colonial literary forms like riddles, proverbs, folktales, and epics that were composed and shared orally. During Spanish colonization, native writers began producing religious poetry and drama in Tagalog to teach Catholic doctrine. Notable works included the earliest versions of the Pasyon and Senakulo. Secular works like awits, koridos, and prose narratives were also written. The first books published in the Philippines were religious texts like the Doctrina Christina and Barlaan at Josefat, which was the first Tagalog novel.

1. PRE-COLONIAL TEXT
AND
SPANISH COLONIAL TEXT

2. PRE-COLONIAL TEXT

3. PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
The literature of a formative past by the various
groups of people who inhabited the archipelago.
A literature of varying human interest.
Close to the religious and political organizations of
the ancient Filipinos.
The verses were addressed to the ears rather than
the eyes.
Verses composed and sung were regarded as a
group property.

4. VERSIFICATION:
Octosyllabic
Legendary and Religious
Person
Dodecasyllabic
Romance

5. RIDDLE (BUGTONG)
Made up of one or more measured
lines with rhymes and may consist of
4-12 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.

6. PURPOSE OF BUGTONG:
TO ENTERTAIN
TO EDUCATE
TO TITILLATE
TO CURSE, WITHOUT
EXPRESSLY CURSING
TO PRESERVE THE
CULTURE

7. SALAWIKAIN & SAWIKAIN
Epigrams/maxims/proverbs
Short poems that have been customarily
been used and served as laws or rules on
good behaviour by our ancestors.
Allegories or parables that impart lessons
for the young.
Often expressing a single idea, that is
usually satirical and had a witty ending.
Maxims- rhyming couplets (5, 6, 8
syllables)

8. CHANTS (BULONG)
Used in witchcraft or enchantments.
Example of chants:
●Tabi, Tabi po, Ingkong
Makikiraan po lamang.

9. SAYINGS (KASABIHAN)
Used in teasing or to comment on
a persons’ accutations.
Example:
Nag-almusal mag-isa
Kaning lamig, tinapa;
Nahulog ang kutsara
Ikaw na sana, sinta.

10. TANAGA
A quatrain with 7 syllables each with the
same rhyme at the end of each line.
Example of TANAGA:
Tahak ng tingin, tulak
ng sulyap, yakap, lapat
ng titig ng balikat.
Hatak pa, kindat, hakat.

11. AMBAHAN
Traditional poetry of the Hanunoo Mangyans of
Oriental Mindoro which is normally inscribed on
bamboo using a Pre-Colonial syllabic writing system
called the Surat Mangyan.
Seven syllabic 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.

12. FOLKTALE
 This is a characteristically anonymous,
timeless, and placeless tale circulated
orally among a people.
Example of FOLKTALE:
 Juan Gathers Guavas
(A Tagalog Folktale)

13. FABLE
 This features animal characters or
inanimate objects that behave like
people
Example of FABLE:
 The Monkey and The Crocodile
(A tagalog fable)
 The Spider and The Fly

14. LEGEND
 This is presented as history but is
unlikely to be true.
Example of LEGEND:
The Flood Story (A Legend
of Bukidnon)

15. MYTH
This is told to explain a belief , a
practice, or a natural phenomenon.
Example of MYTH:
 The Creation (A Tagalog Myth)
 The Creation (An Igorot Myth)

16. EPIC
This narrative poem celebrates the
adventures and achievements of a
hero.
Example of EPIC:
 Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilocos)
 Hudhud ni Aligayon (Ifugao)

17. FOLK SONGS
 This is a form of folk lyric which
expresses the hopes and aspiration of
the people.
Example of Folk Songs:
 Leron-Leron Sinta
 Magtanim ay di biro
(Tagalog working song)
 Bahay kubo
 Dandansoy (Visayan Folk Song)

18. SPANISH COLONIAL TEXT

19. SPANISH COLONIAL TEXT
The Spanish missionaries taught the gospel
through the native language, so they hired natives
to translate spanish religious instructional materials.
Eventually, the natives became fluent in Spanish
and became known as Ladinos.
Ladinos mainly wrote devotional poetry. Two
of them were Fernando Bagongbanta and Gaspar
Aquino de Belen. Bagongbanta wrote “Salamat na
Ualang Hanga” which appeared in Memorial de la
vida christiana en lengua tagala (1605), a book
containing basic catholic doctrines. On the other
hand, de Belen wrote “Ang Mahal na Passion ni
Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin na Tola” (1704),
the earliest version of Pasyon.

20. Also, the native drama called The
komedyan or Moro-Moro was popular. It
depicted the war between christians and
muslims, wherein the former always wins. The
poet Jose de la Cruz (1746-1829) was a master
of such art form.
Native literature continued. Though the
Spaniards destroyed the written literature in their
effort to replace it with their own, the oral
tradition survived and flourished in areas beyond
the reach of the Spaniards.

21. LITERARY FORMS
1.Religious
Religious lyrics written by Ladino
poets or those verse in both
Spanish and Tagalog where
included in early catechism and
were used to teach Filipinos the
Spanish language.

22. 2 KINDS OF RELIGIOUS
A. PASYON
A long narrative poem about the
passion and death of Christ.
Example of Pasyon
 Kasaysayan ng Pasyon Mahal ni
Hesukristong Panginoon Natin
 Panalangin sa Mahal na Birhen

23. B. SENAKULO
 A dramatization of the
pasyon, it shows the passion
and death of Christ.
Example of Senakulo
 Poon Kong Aking Ama,
Lampara na Aking mga
Paa

24. 2.SECULAR (non religious)
A denoting attitudes,
activities, or other things
that have no religious or
spiritual basis.

25. 3 KINDS OF SECULAR
 AWIT
 A colorful tales of chivalry made for
singing and chanting.
Example of Awit:
 Ibong Adarna

26.  KORIDO
A metrical tale written in
octosyllabic quatrains.
Example of Korido:
 Florante at Laura
 PROSE NARRATIVES
 A written to prescribe proper
decorum.
Example of Prose Narratives:
 Ang Bagong Robinson

27. FIRST BOOKS
Doctrina Christina
The title literally means “Christian Doctrine”,
and thus the primary goal of the book was to
propagate Christian teaching across the
Philippine archipelago.
After a syllabary comes the basic prayers:
the Lords Prayer, Heal Mary, Credo and the
Salve Regina. Following these are Articles of
Faith, The Ten Commandments,
Commandments of the Holy Church,
Sacraments of the Holy Church, Seven
Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, the
Confiteor and a brief Catechism.

28. NUESTRA SENYORA DEL ROSARIO
Nuestra Senyora del Rosario is one of
the titles or advocations of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, mother of Christ. According to pious
legend the Virgin appeared to St. Dominic,
founder of the Dominican Order, and gave him
the rosary as a form of contemplative prayer.
 LIBRO DE LOS CUATRO
POSTRIMERIAS DE HOMBRE
 First written book in typography.
 Fr. Francisco blancas in 1604.

29. BARLAAN AT JOSEPHAT
Are two legendary Christian martyrs
and saints, based ultimately on the
life of the Gautama Buddha. It tells
how an Indian king persecuted the
Christian Church in his realm.
Biblical story printed in the
Philippines.
First Tagalog novel printed in the
Philippines even though it is only a
translation.

30. URBANA AT FELIZA
 Letters between two sisters.
 Influenced greatly the
behaviour of the people in
the society.
 Modesto de Castro-Father of
Classical Prose in Tagalog.

31. THE END! 
PREPARED BY: (12-FRANC)
ROY-ANN BATERNA
RIAMAE GOOPIO
KENIE JEAN EQUING
CAREN CAPURAS
JONATHAN SINAGPULO