UNIT II

HISTORY PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Unit 2. Philippine Literature: Pre-colonial to Contemporary

Learning Outcomes: In this unit, the students are expected to:

 Identify the geographic, linguistic and ethnic dimensions of Philippine literature from
pre-colonial to contemporary periods
 Compare and contrast the literary pieces from pre-colonial to contemporary periods in
terms of their geographic, linguistic and ethnic features
 Examine representative literary pieces in every historical period

PRE-COLONIAL (Early Times to 1564)

E. Arsenio Manuel, a literary scholar notable for his studies on Philippine folk literature, divided Philippine
precolonial literature into three, namely the Mythological Age, Heroic Age, and Folktales from all ages.

Mythological Age

This is the period when our ancestors told stories about the creation of human beings and the world, natural
phenomena, and deities and spirits.

Heroic Age

In this period, the characters in stories evolved. Ordinary mortals and cultural heroes became the chief subject
matter in this period. Epics became a popular genre. They were chanted during important events in the
community to inspire people. These were also performed to remind the community of their ideals and values.

Folktales

Philippine folktales are traditional stories that had humans, animals, and even plants as characters. These are
fictional tales that have been modified through successive retellings before they were finally recorded and
written down.

The writing system used by Filipinos during the precolonial period is the baybayin. This was derived
from Kavi, a Javanese (Indonesian) script.

To write, the early Filipinos used palm leaves or bamboo, which they wrote on using knives as pens and sap
from plants and trees as ink. The ancient Tagalog script had seventeen basic syllables composed of three
vowels and fourteen consonants. The vowels were a, e/i, and o/u. The consonants were ba, ka, da/ra, ga, ha,
la, ma, na, nga, pa, sa, ta, wa, and ya.

The symbols used could be modified to present different vowel sounds. This could be done with the use of the
kudlit, which may be a short line, a dot, or even an arrowhead placed at the top or the bottom of the symbol
being modified.

mdc-shs
Check your understanding. (This will be for recitation in the next virtual meeting. No points shall be
given, though.)

Fill in the blanks with the correct term being described.

_________ 1. This is the writing system used by Filipinos during the precolonial period.
_________ 2. These are traditional stories that were modified through successive retellings.

Write True if the statement given is correct and False if it is wrong.

_________ 1. The precolonial Filipino writing was derived from a Javanese script.
_________ 2. The kudlit is used to modify the present consonant sounds.

Historical Events

Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first period of the Philippine literary
history is the longest. However, through the researches and writings about Philippine
history, much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine literature from an
analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their
indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial administrators. The
oral literature of the precolonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. This is
evident in the most common forms of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs and the
song, which always seem to assume that the audience is familiar with the situations,
activities and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion. The
language of oral literature, unless the piece was part of the cultural heritage of the
community like the epic, was the language of daily life. At this phase of literary
development, any member of the community was a potential poet, singer or storyteller as
long as he knew the language and had been attentive to the conventions of the forms.
Almost all the important events in the life of the ancient peoples of this country were
connected with some religious observance and the rites and ceremonies always some
poetry recited, chanted, or sung. The lyrics of religious songs may of course be classified
as poetry also, although the rhythm and the rhyme may not be the same. 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,

mdc-shs
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.

Literary Works

Riddle- Made up of one or more measured lines with rhymes and may consist of
4 to 12 syllables and it showcases the Filipino wit, literary talent, and keen
observation of the surroundings.

Epigrams/Proverbs (Salawikain&Sawikain)- Short poems that have been

customarily been used and served as laws or rules on good behavior by ancestors.
Usually the work imparts lessons for the young ones.

Chants (Bulong)- Used in witchcrafts and enchantments.

Myths- derived from Philippine folk literature, which is the traditional oral
literature ofthe Filipino people. This refers to a wide range of material due to the
ethnic mix of the Philippines.

Folk Songs- a form of folk lyric which expresses the people’s hopes, aspirations,
and lifestyles.

Epic- a series of heroic achievements, usually a hero, is dealt with at length.

Famous Authors

Literature was passed down through storytelling from one person to another. The
author of these works remains unknown until present time.

Literary Styles and Themes

Most of the content of the literature in the said era revolves around the creation of
the world, community, the Philippines and life.

Literary Samples

mdc-shs
Guman(Subanon);

Darangen (Maranao);

Hudhud (Ifugao);

Lam-ang (Ilocano);

Hinilawod(Sulod);

Kudaman(Palawan);

Darangen (Maranao);

Ulahingan(Livunganen-Arumanen Manobo);

MangovaytBuhongnaLangit(The Maiden of the Buhong Sky from Tuwaang-Manobo);

Ag T obignegKeboklagan(Subanon); and Tudbulol(T'boli).

Selected Literary Texts

COLONIAL PERIOD (Spanish)

Historical Events

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

mdc-shs
 The church authorities adopted a policy of spreading the Church doctrines by
communicating to the native (pejoratively called Indio) in his own 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 ladinosbecause of their
fluency in both Spanish and Tagalog, published their work, mainly devotional poetry, in
the first decade of the 17th century. 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.

Literary Works

Christian Doctrine (Religious literature)- a prayer book 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.

Senakulo (Religious literature)- a dramatization of the pasyon.

Pasyon (Religious literature)- long narrative poem about the passion and death
of Christ.

Awit- colorful tales of chivalry made for singing and chanting.

Komedya (moro-moro)- secular literature from Spain in the form of medieval

ballads inspired the native poetic-drama.

Prose Narratives- written to prescribe proper decorum.

Famous Authors

Gaspar Aquino de Belen - was a Filipino poet and translator of the 17th century,
known for authoring a 1704 rendition of the Pasyon: a famous poetic narrative of the
passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, which has circulated in many versions.

mdc-shs
 Jose de la Cruz (1746-1829) - was the foremost exponent of thekomedya 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.

Francisco Baltazar (1788 –1862) - popularly called Balagtasis the acknowledged

master of traditional Tagalog poetry.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).

Jose Rizal (1861 –1896)- He 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.

Literary Styles and Themes

The topics covered by the literary works include religion, specifically

Christianity, and European traditions. Grammar books in Tagalog were also published at
that time period. Some were sung, like The Passion while some were prayers that
believers chant in church.

Literary Examples

Doctrina Christiana (1593); Mahal Na Pasion ni Jesu Christo by Gaspar Aquino

de Belen; Angmga Dalit kay Maria (Psalms for Mary); Ang Barlaan at Josaphat by Fray
Antonio de Borja; Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas; Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose
Rizal.

REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

Historical Events

mdc-shs
 It began in August 1896, when the Spanish authorities discovered Katipunan, an
anti-colonial secret organization. During a great revolution, literature nearly disappears
and there is silence for, swept up in the tide of revolution, all turn from shouting to action
and are so busy making revolution that there is no time to talk of literature.
However,Filipinos who aren’t into making revolution in action revived the Philippine
literature with their own writings and inflaming Filipinos’ emotions with the said content.
Revolutionary period likewise saw various literary masterpieces written as ammunition
and shield in the ever-changing tide of war to independence. Periodicals and magazines
were likewise continued to flourish as both avenue for idea propagation and vehicle for
literary initiatives.

Literary Works

Political Essays (Propaganda Literature) - satires, editorials and news articles

were written to attack and expose the evils of Spanish rule; helped inflame the spirit of
revolution

Political Novels (Propaganda Literature) - the content directly criticizes an

existing society or present an alternative, even fantastic, reality.

Revolutionary Literature - more propagandistic than literary as it is more

violent in nature and demanded complete independence for the country.

Famous Authors

Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and M. H. delPilar -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.

Emilio Jacinto - Jacinto wrote political essays expressed in the language of the
folk. Significantly, although either writer could have written in Spanish (Bonifacio, for

mdc-shs
 instance, wrote a Tagalog translation of Rizal’s Ultimo Adios), both chose to
communicate to their fellowmen in their own native language.

Andres Bonifacio –was an admirer of Rizal, and like Rizal, he was a writer and
social critic 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-IbigSaTinubuangLupa.

Jose Palma - was a Filipino poet and soldier. He was on the staff of La
Independencia at the time he wrote Filipinas, a patriotic poem in Spanish. He also wrote
the HimnoNacional Filipino (The Philippine National Anthem) composed by Julian
Felipe which was originally entitled, MarchaMagdalo. He joined the fight against the
Americans together with Gen. delPilar with his works and as a soldier.

Literary Styles and Themes

During this period, Filipinos began to write novels and poems about love for their
country. The revolutionary literature journey marked a drastic period of inflamed
emotions and fiery rhetoric on the account of achieving freedom from the shackles of
tyranny.

Literary Examples

Kalayaan edited by Emilio Jacinto; True Decalogue by Apolinario Mabini;

Katapusang Hibik ng Pilipinas and Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa by Andres Bonifacio;
Liwanag at Dilim by Emilio Jacinto; Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo by Jose
Rizal.

AMERICAN PERIOD

Historical Events

Philippine literary production during the American Period in the Philippines was
spurred by two significant developments in education and culture. One is the introduction

mdc-shs
 of free public instruction for all children of school age and two, the use of English as
medium of instruction in all levels of education in public schools. Free public education
made knowledge and information accessible to a greater number of Filipinos. Those who
availed of this education through college were able to improve their social status and
joined a good number of educated masses who became part of the country’s middle class.

The use of English as medium of instruction introduced Filipinos to Anglo-

American modes of thought, culture and life ways that would be embedded not only in
the literature produced but also in the psyche of the country’s educated class. It was this
educated class that would be the wellspring of a vibrant Philippine Literature in English.
Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country,
could not escape being imitative of American models of writing especially during its
period of apprenticeship. The poetry written by early poets manifested studied attempts at
versification as in the following poem which is proof of the poet’s rather elementary
exercise in the English language. The separate, yet parallel developments of Philippine
literature in English and those in Tagalog and other languages of the archipelago during
the American period only prove that literature and writing in whatever language and in
whatever climate are able to survive mainly through the active imagination of writers.
Apparently, what was lacking during the period was for the writers in the various
languages to come together, share experiences and come to a conclusion on the elements
that constitute good writing in the Philippines.

Literary Works

Poetry – Noteworthy names in this field, they wrote in free verse, in odes and
sonnets and in any other types. Poetry was original, spontaneous, competently written
and later, incorporated social consciousness.

Short Story –1925 to 1941, poetry and short story flourished during these times.

Publications–The Philippine Free Press provided the first incentives to Filipino

writers in English by offering prizes to Filipino writers in English by offering prizes to
worthwhile contribution. Other publication followed suit.

mdc-shs
 Drama –1925 to 1941, drama during this period did not reach the heights attained
by the novel or the short story.

Famous Authors

Fernando Ma. Guerero–he collected the best of his poem in a book called
Crisalidas, and one of the poems written in this book was “Inovacion A Rizal”

Manuel Bernabe – is a lyric poet, he was more attractive to the public in a debate
with Balmori because of the melodious he used.

Lope K. Santos–“Father of the National language Grammar”, he was also called

“apo” of the tagalog writers.“Banaag at Sikat”was his masterpiece.

Jose Corazon de Jesus –known as husengbatute, he was also called the poet of
love in his time.

Inigo Ed Regaldo–a popular story teller, novelist, and newspaper man. He

reached the peak of his success by the “sumpong” of his pen.

Literary Styles and Themes

By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of English writing. They
now confidently and competently wrote on a lot of subjects although the old-time
favorites of love and youth persisted. They went into all forms of writing like the novel
and the drama.

Literary Examples

1.)“A Rizal” by Cecilio Apostol

2.)“Ante El Martir” by Claro M. Recto

3.) “Ang Panday” by Armando V. Hernandez.

POST-WAR PERIOD (JAPANESE OCCUPATION)

Historical Events

mdc-shs
 Philippine Literature was interrupted in its development when the Philippines was
again conquered by another foreign country, Japan. Philippine literature in English can to
a halt. Except for the TRIBUNE and the PHILIPPINE REVIEW, almost all newspapers
in English were stopped by the Japanese. The weekly Liwayway was placed under strict
surveillance until it was managed by a Japanese named Ishiwara. This had an
advantageous effect of Filipino Literature, which experienced renewed attention because
writers in English turned to writing in Filipino. Juan Laya who used to write in English
turned to Filipino because of the strict prohibitions of the Philippines of the Japanese
regarding any writing in English. In other words, Filipino literature was given a break
during this period. Many wrote plays, poems, short stories, etc. Topics and themes were
often about life in the provinces.

Literary Works

Haiku –A poem of free verse that the Japanese liked. It was made up of 17
syllables divided into three lines. The first line had 5 syllables, the second had 7 syllables,
and the third had 5. It is allegorical in meaning. It is short and covers a wide scope in
meaning.

Tanaga - It is like the Haiku since it is short but it had measure and rhyme. Each
line had 17 syllables and is also allegorical in meaning.

Filipino Drama - The drama experienced a lull during the Japanese period
because movie houses showing American films were closed. The big movie houses were
just made to show stage shows. Many of the plays were reproductions of English plays to
Tagalog.

Famous Authors

Macario Pineda – a writer who was known with this short story,
“SuyuansaTubigan”.

Narciso Reyes - was a Filipino diplomat and author. He wrote

“LupangTinubuan”.

mdc-shs
 LiwaywayArceo - was a multi-awarded Tagalog fictionist, journalist, radio
scriptwriter and editor from the Philippines. Arceo authored a number of well-received
novels, such as Canal de la Reina and Titser.

Literary Styles and Themes

The common theme of most poems during the Japanese occupation was
nationalism, country, love, life in the barrios, faith, religion, and the arts.

Literary Examples

LupangTinubuan by Narciso Reyes; UhawangTigangnaLupa by LiwaywayArceo;

LunsodNayon at Dagat-dagatan by NVM Gonzales.

LATE 20THCENTURY (MARTIAL LAW)

Historical Events

With the declaration of Presidential Decree 1081 on September 21, 1972, many
publications and mass media outfits were shut down, Filipino writers started to use their
writings to explore socio-political realities. The tradition of protest has always been a
potent force in the production of socially committed writings, as a number of critics such
as Bienvenido Lumbera, and Epifanio San Juan Jr. have argued. The 1970s, for example,
witnessed the proliferation of poems, short stories, and novels which grappled with the
burning issues of the times. In a large number of magazines and journals, writers in both
English and Pilipino faced the problems of exploitation and injustice, and appropriated
these realities as the only relevant materials for their fiction. In effect, writers such as
Ricardo Lee, Virgilio Almario, Efren Abueg, Ave Perez Jacob, and Dominador Mirasol
produced a large number of texts that were profoundly disturbing, even as these works
zeroed in on the various forms of repression and violence. In the underground press,
writers used pen names. Illegal organizations or groups published the works, which they
had to distribute under the radar. Those caught with such publications could be held in
detention or imprisoned, tortured, and even killed.

Literary Works

mdc-shs
 Protest Literature – referred as revolutionary literature. Mainly all about
engagement, combat, committed, resistance, socially conscious literature. Proletarian
Literature - works under this literature was too strong to ignore. It was deemed for
unimaginable, for the committed writer doing political work, to still think poetry as
“beauty recollected in tranquility”.

Prison Literature –Journalists and prominent political opposition figures were

the first to be ensnared in the dragnet cast by the Marcos intelligence and police
apparatus, followed by militant activists, including academics who were also noted for
their critical literary writings.

Circumvention Literature – it was in the precious little space afforded, wittingly

or not, by certain publications and institutions sanctioned by the Martial Law
Administration, that the so-called “Literature o Circumvention began to appear”.

Famous Authors

Ponciano Pineda - is an American writer, teacher, linguist, lawyer and activist

during Martial Law. Ponciano Pineda is considered as the "Father of the Commission on
Filipino Language".

Anicento Silvestre – an activist, he won Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for

Poetry in Filipino because of his works.

Bienvenido Ramos – a Filipino poet who contributed to Liwayway, Ilang-ilang,

and other magazines with his revolutionary poems.

Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. - is a Filipino writer. He has won numerous awards and prizes
for fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction and screenwriting, including 16 Palanca Awards.
Heused the pen name “Butch Dalisay”.

Literary Styles and Themes

Themes of most poems dealt with patience, regard for native culture, customs and
the beauties of nature and surrounding. And Filipinos faced the problems of exploitation

mdc-shs
 and injustice, and appropriated these realities as the only relevant materials for their
fiction.

Literary Examples

“Prometheus Unbound” appeared in Focus; “If a Poem Was A Just” (Prison

Literature); “Days of Disquiet” by Jose F. Lacaba; “An Underground Tale” by Benjamin
Pimentel, Jr.

21st CENTURY LITERATURE

Historical Events

Bilingual education which was initiated by the Board of National Education as

early as 1958 and continued up to present resulted in the deterioration of English in the
different levels of education. The focus of education and culture was on problems of
national identity, on re-orientation, renewed vigor and a firm resolves to carry out plans
and programs. The forms of literature that led during this period were the essays, debates
and poetry. The short stories, like the novels and plays were no different in style from
those written before the onset of activism. Comparing present-day conditions to life 40
years ago, nothing has changed much; the situation is even a lot worse than before for
many Filipinos. The world is more cruel now for the majority of Filipinos because of the
promotion of material things (mall culture, high tech gadgets, condo living) and the
pressure to acquire things. Life was a lot simpler then. However, the Philippine literature
may have changed but Filipinos writers continue to show dynamism and innovation.

Literary Works

Poetry – Filipinos continued this work, although the topics might change and
usually uses the free-form. Fiction works - It can also be a literary work based on
imagination rather than on fact, like a novel or short story.

mdc-shs
 Theses-this work has more than one important sense to it. It is the most important
or foundational idea of an argument, presentation, or piece of writing often used in
education. Games

Comic - it is a medium used to express ideas by images, often combined with text
or other visual information. Cartooning and similar forms of illustration are the most
common image.

Famous Authors

Carlo J. Caparas - is a comic strip creator, writer, director and producer who
became sensational known for his created local superheroes and comic book characters
that are still popular to Filipinos until now.

Mars Ravelo - is also a comic strip creator and writer who became phenomenal
in the Philippines for his created superheroes such as “Darna” (a Filipino version of
Wonder Woman), Dyesabel (name of the Filipino mermaid/heroine), and many others.

Gilda Olvidado - is a popular Filipino novelist and writer, known for her
extraordinary love stories.

Bob Ong - is the pseudonym of an anonymous Filipino contemporary author

known for using conversational Filipino to create humorous and reflective depictions of
life as a Filipino.

Literary Styles and Themes

Contemporary writers often consciously draw inspiration and ideas from the
writers who have come before them. As a result, many works of 21st literature grapple
with the events, movements and literature of the past in order to make sense of the
present. Additionally, the technological advancements of the 21st century have led other
writers to hypothetically write about the future, usually to comment on the present and
evoke introspection.

mdc-shs
Literary Examples

 “Sinasamba Kita” and “Babangon Ako’t Dudurugin Kita” by Gilda Olvidado

 “Panday” by Carlo J. Caparas;
 “ABNKKBSNPLAko?!” by Bob Ong;
 “LumbayngDila” by Genevive L. Asenjo.
 “Voice Tape” by Ariel S. Tabag
 “Under My Invisible Umbrella” by laurel Fantauzzo
 “Green Sanctuary” by Antonio Enriquez
 “The Breath of Sparrows” by Jim Pascual Agustin
 “One Day on the Road” by Temistokles M. Adlawan
 “Promdi@Manila” by Genevieve L. Asenjo
 Dalawang Awit Mula Sa “ Rama Hari” by Bienvenido Lumbera
 “Home of the Ashfall” by John Jack Wigley

Activities to Accomplish

COLONIAL PERIOD

Activity 1.

A. Answer the question in the box. Your answer should contain no more than five
sentences.

What do you think is the most artistic way of expressing feelings and thoughts among the people in
the pre-colonial period? Do your research.

B. Answer the riddles stated below.

1. Baboy ko sa pulo, balahibo’y pako. _____________________

2. Isang butil ng palay, sakop ang buong bahay. _____________________

mdc-shs
 3. Sa araw ay bungbong, sa gabi ay dahon. _____________________
4. Heto na ang magkakapatid, nag-uunahang pumanhik. _____________________
5. Munting tampipi, puno ng salapi.
6. Sa maling kalabit, buhay ang kapalit. _____________________
7. Bumili ako ng alipin, mataas pa sa akin. _____________________
8. Isa ang pasukan, tatlo nag labasan. _____________________
9. Malambot na parang ulap, kasama ko sa pangarap. _____________________
10. Magbibihis araw-araw, nag- iiba ng pangalan. _____________________
Write your own riddle. Provide the answer at the end of it.

C. Assessment Task: Download the song “Dandansoy”, the Cebuano version, and answer
one item below. On the other hand, sing the song as one class (virtual choir). Use any
preferred video conferencing to work out the song. Submit a recorded copy of your class
performance. Make sure your names appear on the screen for checking purposes.

Famous Folk Song

Dandansoy

Dandansoy bayaan ta ikaw

Pauli ako sa payaw

Ugaling kon ikaw hidlawon
Ang payaw imo lang lantawon

Dandansoy kon imo apason

Bisan tubig di magbalon

Ugaling kon ikaw uhawon
Sa dalan magbubon-bubon

Instrumental...

Dandansoy bayaan ta ikaw

Pauli ako sa payaw

Ugaling kon ikaw hidlawon
Ang payaw imo lang lantawon

Dandansoy kon imo apason

Bisan tubig di magbalon

mdc-shs
 Ugaling kon ikaw uhawon
Sa dalan magbubon-bubon

1. Write your own interpretation of the poem. Cite the image projected in the song. Limit
your interpretation with 5-8 sentences only.
NOTE: Activity 1 will be due on September 28, 2020. Submit your outputs on my messenger
account. For the video, sent it via my email add: georgeitable92@gmail.com.
______________________________________________________________________________

COLONIAL PERIOD

(SPANISH PERIOD)

Last Farewell (Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose Rizal)

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress’d

Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life’s best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.

On the field of battle, ‘mid the frenzy of fight,

Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom’s plight,
‘Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country’s need.

I die just when I see the dawn break,

Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour’d out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.

My dreams, when life first opened to me,

My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov’d face, O gem of the Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.

Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,

All hail! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail! And sweet it is for thee to expire;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity’s long night.

mdc-shs
If over my grave someday thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath’s warm power.

Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,

Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.

Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,

And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o ‘er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.

Pray for all those that hapless have died,

For all who have suffered the unmeasured pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.

And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around

With only the dead in their vigil to see
Break not my repose or the mystery profound
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
‘Tis I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.

And even my grave is remembered no more

Unmark’d by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o’er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.

Then will oblivion bring to me no care

As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.

My Fatherland ador’d, that sadness to my sorrow lends

Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends

mdc-shs
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e’er on high!

Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,

Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed!
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day!
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest!

Activity 2.

A. Search about the life of Rizal. Find out the inspiration/ the reason why he wrote this
poem.

1. To whom did the speaker bid goodbye?

2. What message did the speaker wish to convey in his poem?
3. What is the prevailing mood in this poem?
4. Why did the speaker bid farewell?
5. What is his perspective towards death as implied in his message?
6. What historical event is associated in the writing of this poem?
7. Comment on the language and symbolisms that the speaker used in expressing his
thoughts and emotions in his poem.
8. If you were to bid your farewell, how do you wish your readers to feel about your
leaving?

Florante at Laura Summary in English (Francisco Balagtas)

On a faraway vast land, there’s a mystical forest outside the Kingdom of Albanya. Florante, son
of Duke Briseo and Princess Floresca, was knotted tightly on a giant old tree in the middle of the
dark forest. Sadness and emptiness crept around the helpless Prince. The scary woods and
uncanny sounds of wild animals and creatures just didn’t help.
Just before two huge lions were about to ravish the poor Prince, a kindhearted Persian Morong,
Aladin, helped Florante. Aladin was on exile from his own kingdom because of his father’s
cruelty. His father, Ali-Adab, took his lovely fiancé away from him. On his way to the woods, he
heard Florante’s scream trying to seek help from the lions nearly killing him.
The two became good friends and they started to talk about their past and what brought them
there in the woods. Florante told Aladin his true identity – a prince of Albanya. He also told his
new friend about his another near-death experience involving a giant crow which was killed by
his cousin, Menalipo, his school days at Atenas where he met Adolfo whom from the beginning
was his rival. Adolfo tried to kill Florante during their school play, the latter was rescued by
Menandro, nephew of their kind professor – Antenor. Because of that terrible incident, Adolfo
decided to go back home in Albanya.
One day in Atenas, a sad news came to Florante about the death of his mother. After two months,
the Prince went back home in Albanya.

mdc-shs
In Albanya, Duke Briseo and King Linseo, father of Laura, gathered a meeting about their
defense against the troops of Persian General Osmalik. Osmalik ruined the Kingdom of Kotrona.
According to the King, he dreamt of a clever powerful Prince who looked like Florante, their
only weapon to beat Osmalik.
Florante instantly fell in love with Laura seeing her beauty. In his three days stay at their palace,
he never had the chance to talk to the Princess. He only had few moments with her when he was
prepared to battle. The princess only sent her tears and hopes.
B. Write a “Hugot Line” on the love story of Florante and Laura.
NOTE: Activity 2 (A and B) should be submitted on October 2, 2020 via Quipper
Messaging Function.
_____________________________________________________________________________

REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
THE TRUE DECALOGUE
Apolinario Mabini

Expounding on the ideals that Mabini believed the Philippine Revolution should have had,
he wrote “El Verdadero Decalogo” in his humble hut in Los Baños in May 1898. Aguinaldo
authorized its continued publication, together with Mabini’s proposed constitution. (Part of
the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of Apolinario Mabini’s birth.)

First. Love God and your honor over all things: God, as the source of all truth, all justice and all
activity; your honor, the only power that obliges you to be truthful, just and industrious.

Second. Worship God in the form that your conscience that God speaks to you, reproaching you
for your misdeeds and applauding you for your good deeds.

Third. Develop the special talents that God has given you, working and studying according to
your capabilities, never straying from the path of good and justice, in order to achieve your own
perfection, and by this means you will contribute to the progress of humanity: thus you will
accomplish the mission that God himself has given you in this life, and achieving this, you will
have honor, and having honor, you will be glorifying God.

Fourth. Love your country after God and your honor, and more than you love yourself, because
your country is the only paradise that God has given you in this life; the only patrimony of your
race; the only inheritance from your ancestors; and the only future of your descendants: because
of your country you have life, love and interests; happiness, honor and God.

mdc-shs
Fifth. Strive for the happiness of your country before your own, making her the reigning
influence for reason, justice and work; if your country is happy, you and your family will also be
happy.

Sixth. Strive for the independence of your country, because you alone can have a real interest in
her aggrandizement and ennoblement, since here independence will mean your own freedom, her
aggrandizement your own perfection, and her ennoblement your own glory and immortality.

Seventh. In your country, do not recognize the authority of any person who has not been elected
by you and your compatriots, because all authority comes from God, and as God speaks to the
conscience of each individual, the person chosen and proclaimed by the consciences of all the
individuals of a whole town is the only one that can exercise real authority.

Eighth. Strive that your country be constituted as a republic, and never as a monarchy: a

monarchy empowers one or several families and lays the foundation for a dynasty; a republic
ennobles and dignifies a country based on reason, it is great because of its freedom, and is made
prosperous and brilliant by dint of work.

Ninth. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, because God has imposed on him and on you
the obligation to help one another, and has dictated that he does not do unto you what he does not
want you to do unto him; but if your neighbor is remiss in this sacred duty and makes an attempt
on your life, your freedom and your priorities, then you should destroy him and crush him,
because the supreme law of self-preservation must prevail.

Tenth. Always look on your countryman as more than a neighbor: you will find in him a friend,
a brother and at least the companion to whom you are tied by only one destiny, by the same
happiness and sorrows, and by the same aspirations and interests.

Because of this, while the borders of the nations established and preserved by the egoism of race
and of family remain standing, you must remain united to your country in perfect solidarity of
views and interests in order to gain strength, not only to combat the common enemy, but also to
achieve all the objectives of human life.

From La Revolucion Filipina by Apolinario Mabini, courtesy of the National Historical

Commission of the Philippines. 

Activity 3. Search about the historical background of “The Decalogue”. Answer the
following questions below.

a. What does the word “decalogue” mean?

b. What does “The Decalogue” serve for?

c. Cite at least one common message/ one similarity in all of the ten stipulations.

mdc-shs
 d. Analyze critically the ten stipulations in the “The Decalogue” and give your comments
on the content and on the language being used by Mabini. What do you think is Mabini’s
source of inspiration in writing it?

e. Compare and contrast the “The Decalogue” of Mabini and “The Ten Commandments” of
Jesus Christ.

f. Who is/ who are expected to abide with the stipulations in the “The Decalogue”?

g. Why does the author want the addressee to strive that his country be constituted as a
republic? Paraphrase how he views the idea of having monarchy.

h. Expound the message that the author wishes to convey by analyzing the metaphor in his
fourth stipulation. “Love your country after God and your honor, and more than you love
yourself, because your country is the only paradise that God has given you in this life; the
only patrimony of your race; the only inheritance from your ancestors; and the only
future of your descendants: because of your country you have life, love and interests;
happiness, honor and God.”

i. If all Filipinos, in the past and in the present, persevere to live up with this decalogue,
what do you think will it do to the beloved Philippines?

j. Write your own version of decalogue that you wish to be lived up with by all the
Filipinos in this present time?

NOTE: Activity 3 should be submitted on October 11, 2020 via Quipper Messaging
Function.

AMERICAN PERIOD

Kay Rizal
Cecilio Apostol

Bayaning walang kamatayan, kadakilaang maalamat

Sumungaw ka mula sa bangin ng libingan

na kinahihimbingan mo sa maluwalhating pangarap!

Halika! Ang pag-ibig naming pinapagliyab ng inyong alaala,

mula sa madilim na walang wakas ay tumatawag sa iyo

upang putungan ng mga bulaklak ang iyong gunita.

mdc-shs
Matulog kang payapa sa lilim ng kabilang-buhay

tagapagligtas ng isang bayang inalipin!

Huwag iluha, sa hiwaga ng libingan,

ang sandaling tagumpay ng Kastila,

pagka’t kung pinasabog man ang utak mo ng isang punglo,

ang diwa mo nama’y gumiba ng isang imperyo!

Luwalhati kay Rizal! Ang ngalan niyang kabanalan

na parang sunog sa Tabor sa pag-iinapoy

sa talino ng pantas ay ilaw ng kaisipan,

sa marmol ay buhay, at sa kudyapi’y kundiman.

Activity 4. Examine the biography of Cecilio Apostol. Search the events that occupied in
the Philippines during the American period. Answer the questions stated below.

a. What do you think inspires the poet to write this poem?

b. Cite pieces of evidence of his admiration and exaltation to Rizal.
c. What does the poet wish to happen to Rizal in his afterlife?
d. What does these lines mean
“pagka’t kung pinasabog man ang utak mo ng isang punglo,
ang diwa mo nama’y gumiba ng isang imperyo!

e. In what way does the heroism of Rizal affect the Filipinos after the Spanish regime?
f. What is the prevailing mood in the first stanza of the poem?
g. Write a poem with at least two stanzas to someone you treasure as your hero. The poem
could be a free verse.

JAPANESE PERIOD

Haiku:

mdc-shs
Gonzalo K. Flores

TUTUBI

Hila mo’y tabak

Ang bulaklak nanginig

Sa paglapit mo.

ANYAYA

Ulilang damo

Sa tahimik na ilog

Halika, sinta.

Activity 5. Read about the Japanese occupation in the Philippines. Then answer the
questions below.

a. Why did the Philippine literature flourish during the Japanese occupation in the
Philippines? In what way did the Japanese occupation encourage the Filipino writers
to bloom?
b. Write a sample haiku of any topic that you want.

NOTE: Activity 4 and 5 should be submitted on October 16, 2020 via Quipper Messaging
Function.

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

Under My Invisible Umbrella

Laurel Fantauzzo

Laurel Fantauzzo tried to become a Manila local, and in this essay, she explains what it means to
be charged “dayuhan tax.”

mdc-shs
I accepted the man’s service without question, as if he had been standing at the doorway of the
Olongapo office building waiting only for me. As if I knew he would head into the downpour,
open his umbrella, hold the tenuous shelter of it over my head, and walk at my pace, getting wet
himself. I accepted his work without a “Salamat po.” I was second to worst in my class of
Filipino American would-be Tagalog speakers that July, and, in 2007, at age 23, I was still too
embarrassed to try.

As I waited for the rest of my Fil-Am classmates, my Tagalog teacher Susan Quimpo approached
me, holding her own umbrella.

“Did you notice that he held the umbrella only for you?” she murmured.

Then—as people of the Philippines are inclined to do, when a situation seems too absurd in its
wrongness to repair—she laughed.

My classmates and I sounded the same: Fil-Ams managing our emotional confusion with loud
inside jokes about our two months together in Manila. But they were brown and they were damp.
I was pale and I was dry.

The man was not holding the umbrella above me. He was holding the umbrella above my
whiteness. He was holding it like a flag for everything he assumed my whiteness represented: my
wealth, my station in life—higher than his—and my deserving extra service.

This worship of whiteness is not a phenomenon unique to the Philippines. But that day in
Olongapo, I felt a surge of shame.

Of course, whether I felt guilty or not, I was still dry.

Before moving to the Philippines, I had no idea how closely my class would be identified with
my face. In America, my face had been merely diverting, a prompt for racial guessing-games that

mdc-shs
always made me shudder. “Mexican! Polish! Sephardic!” “You kinda look Spanish and Oriental
at the same time. What is that?” Or my face had been an inspiration for the saying of strange,
murky compliments that made me shudder more. “I wish I had your nice, smooth, Asian skin.”
“You’re so lucky your nose isn’t too—well, you know.”

In Manila, my ambiguous whiteness was no longer ambiguous. It was simply whiteness.

Thanks to my face, and the strength of the dollars I had, I was top one-percenting for the first
time in my life. I lived, overtly, the troubling inventory Peggy McIntosh outlines in “White
Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack:”

Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the
appearance of financial reliability.

I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will
be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

Perhaps, in Manila, I lived a variation of McIntosh’s theme: Moving Under The Invisible
Umbrella.

Last August, I spent only forty pesos at an upscale cafe in Greenbelt mall to wait out a
cloudburst. I used the café’s Wi-Fi for hours, while servers impatiently thrust menus at more-
melanined customers who had dared sit for too long.

I wandered onto a fenced-in, exclusive university campus for the sole reason that it was a nice
walk, and I wanted to be there. The guard smiled and tipped his hat to me. He did not require me
to sign his security book.

In a live, crowded theater, I crossed a restricted area to use the much less crowded staff restroom.
Four guards said nothing.

mdc-shs
As I slowly learned my motherland’s arithmetic of identity—repeated in countries once
brutalized by white rulers around the world—I realized what members of the service sector
assumed of me: English speaker + pale face + black hair = A foreigner. Or a mestiza. She looks
like the rulers—Spanish, or American. She and her family must have some authority—perhaps
political authority. She merits extra courtesy.

As I spent more time in the Philippines in the late 2000s, developing my understanding of the
society my mother left in 1979, I tried to reconcile what I saw with the reality I came from. My
mother was the second-to-youngest child of seven. The last home she shared with her family was
a small apartment that flooded regularly. She was a scholar at Ateneo de Manila University,
always explained to me as the Harvard of the Philippines. Her classmates’ easy, entitled
affluence depressed her. We lived in a wealthy California suburb because my mother was always
conscious of the necessity to perform wealth. And we ate bread from the Wonderbread surplus
store. We never, ever threw away expired meat.

But the education my parents guaranteed me, in a wealthier country that once controlled the
Philippines garnered me grants and scholarships—advantages of travel that few middle-to-lower-
class scholars in the Philippines will ever see.

My favorite karinderya serves scrambled eggs and rice for twenty pesos. My presence amuses
and annoys the guards and drivers who were never granted scholarships to study me in my birth
country. As my Tagalog improved, I began to understand their objections. Didn’t I have a more
sosyal place to eat as a foreigner? What was I playing at, treading into their space?

I occasionally see my relatives in Tandang Sora, a long but narrow street with many working-
class neighborhoods. My cousins often think about strategies to become Overseas Filipino
Workers. It isn’t their first choice to leave. But they have no other escape from the criminally
small wages given them. Last summer they were developing their own small karinderya.

I always consider their position against mine. It is an uneasy comparison. Had my mother not
been a scholar—had her own, elder sister not married an American, and petitioned for her to join
them in California—had my mother not found my father, a U.S. Naval officer who made her
laugh—I too might be starting a karinderya, finding strategies to go abroad.

mdc-shs
Whenever I visit Tandang Sora, I always bring dessert—a box of donuts, or a bag of cookies, or
ice cream. My cousins always feed me: sopas, afritada, fried chicken, tilapia stuffed with garlic
and tomatoes, which they know to be my favorite. They joke about my Italian side when
spaghetti is on the table. They feed me well.

they wont even have a clue acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 122cm diameter 2011
300x300 1

Of course, none of the economic struggles that once haunted my family approach the reality of
the kalesa driver, who winces when he tells me about his wages, as he plies the avenues of
Malate. He is allowed to take home only twenty pesos of each 100-peso ride. The rest he owes to
the owner of his kalesa. It’s perfectly legal. He does not say the rest, but I can perceive it: he can
go to no one for fair wages.

Or my cab driver who dozes off at a stoplight—who apologizes when I nudge him—since it’s the
twenty-third hour of his twenty-four-hour shift. How often will he get the chance to sheepishly
say, “Extra charge, ma’am,” for a cross-Quezon City ride?

Or the server who looks at me in terror when we realize she brought the wrong order. Who will
stop her boss from automatically deducting the two hundred pesos from her own small
paycheck? Who can she look to, besides me, and the narrative of wealth my pale face projects, to
momentarily assist her with a generous tip?

When I find shrewd charges added to my bills, I argue as briefly as my Tagalog-in-progress will
allow. My Filipino friends say I should argue, for the principle of it. The workers are likely being
dramatic, performing their desperation. My friends say they get cheated too as Filipinas.

In the end I call the overcharges my “dayuhan tax.” My foreigner tariff. The extra cost I owe for
the postcolonial privileges of my face. As long as the population remains economically stranded,
I suspect my American whiteness continues to be a kind of cheating in the modern Philippines.

mdc-shs
Besides the dauyhan tax I joke about, there are other subtler, more personal taxes intrinsic to my
pallid appearance. No one in the Philippines will ever immediately believe I am Filipina, no
matter how strongly and how affectionately I choose the country. My Tagalog will take years to
reach everyday, pun-level proficiency. My mother chose not to teach me and my two younger
brothers Tagalog, for fear that our Italian American father would feel excluded. My brothers feel
no connection at all to her home country. I alone return regularly.

Sometimes, expats of Western countries who hear my California accent and see my pale face
assume they’ve found a friendly audience for their Philippines frustrations. I’ll hear their
complaints coming—Corruption! Traffic! Terrible customer service!—and I will say, stiffly,
“My mother was from here.” Sometimes it gives the expats pause. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I do not know when I will deserve to say, “I am from here.” My language difficulties and my
face still prevent me access to that statement. But I often hear that I am lucky. I may not belong
to a ruling family, but I look and sound like I do.

On some days I don’t know what to do with all this, when I leave the room I rent in Quezon City.
On some weekends I grow so tired and confused, I don’t leave. I stay in and watch the subtitles
on the local music video channel, Myx, to try and gain a little more Tagalog. I harbor dreams of
using my white mestiza privilege to become a VJ, until I hear how fast and natural the VJs’
Tagalog is.

I catch a commercial for a whitening soap. I see a soap opera ad with an actress in the indigenous
equivalent of blackface. I watch a cell phone commercial pandering to the longings of Overseas
Filipino Workers. None of it is terribly surprising. All of it makes a certain kind of sense.

I turn the television off.

One night, a new friend invites me to a party in Forbes Park. I know the neighborhood’s name as
code, the way I know certain last names as code: upper-est class, highest security, a servant for
each family member, etc.

mdc-shs
A private gate guards the house. It reminds me of the palatial, forbidding, buttery mansions I
used to pass on drives through Malibu in Southern California with an ex-girlfriend who knew
where celebrities lived. The young man hosting the party here in Forbes Park is connected, in a
way I don’t immediately grasp, to a political family.

Inside the house, a fog machine distorts the regal dark. A DJ’s bass line shakes my skeleton. A
man dressed like a pirate urges us to drink. Small, oval-shaped rainbows glow intensely at a
slick, temporary bar. Servers call me “Ma’am!” and gesture toward the rainbows. I realize
they’re drinks. I pick one up. It illuminates my hand. My rainbow shot is very, very sweet.

Outside, serious-faced cooks grill hamburgers. I grew up knowing never to spurn free food, so I
stand in line for one. I watch more and more young Manileños arrive. They are, I realize, all part
of the ruling classes somehow, or they have befriended members of the ruling classes. Many of
them—though not all—are as white as I am, or more white.

I see a mechanical bull.

“What?” a Filipina friend mocks me later, when I describe the bull and the bass line and the
sweet rainbow and the Malibu-celebrity-style house and the free burger that was really very
delicious. “Were you just judging it the whole time?”

I flinch. But I fail to explain to her that the same thought occurred to me at the party, too.

Why, I argued to myself, should I judge this? Why should I worry about my complicity in racial
hierarchies and class hierarchies and family entrenchments that were constructed long before I
ever arrived in my motherland? Why not imagine, for just one night, that I am part of a powerful
family? Why not just laugh?

So I drink another rainbow. I get photographed. I exchange business cards. I memorize new
names. I watch the whipping hair of socialites who ride the now-bucking bull. In the small hours
of the night, I feel glad I am able to enjoy myself.

mdc-shs
When I finally exit the gate, I am surprised to find another, more muted party—party in the most
utilitarian sense of the word.

These are the drivers and bodyguards, waiting for the members of the Philippine elite inside.
They smoke and murmur to each other and check their cell phones. Their own families are
waiting for them at homes far from Forbes Park.

I have no easy explanation for my feelings about this moment. The workers would not welcome,
and do not deserve, my pity. But as I move mere footsteps from the company of the sovereigns to
the company of their servants, I feel the uncertainty and shame that blur so often in me here. In
the Philippines, I can get past the gate.

For a chance at the social mobility I perform effortlessly, many Filipinos, waiting forever,
unprotected, outside barred mansions, will leave. They will hope for work in a place—Europe, or
my birth country—that helped create and enforce the intractable inequity forcing their
displacement today.

When I cease imagining the difference of those lives—when I choose dismissal over compassion
and self-examination and criticism, to make my own path in the country feel less unnatural than
it is—

How do I make space in myself for everyone on both sides of the gate? Protected and
unprotected? I don’t know.

I have a troubled relationship with umbrellas. They are daily necessities in Manila, where the
weather can alter by the hour with the intensity of an erratic god. But I always lose umbrellas. Or
I break them. It always surprises me when umbrellas break. I never expect them to be as fragile
as they are.

mdc-shs
Once, when the wind blew the trees horizontal in the business district of Ortigas, I paused in the
lobby of an office tower, drenched. More and more passersby, each of their umbrellas brutalized
and useless, joined me. The guards let us all stay. Most of us were waiting to walk to the MRT
train. Over the next hour, we watched power lines whip and taxis forge defiantly forward and
rain slash into the streets’ now-surging floodwaters. We were all, for a brief moment, equally
halted, equally soaked.

Then one guard noticed me.

“Taxi, ma’am?” he asked. “Taxi?”

He smiled, offering to go out into the rain for me. I smiled back, and told him no.

Activity 6. Answer the following questions below in an essay form with at least three
sentences.

a. Why is the story titled ‘Under My Invisible Umbrella”? What does the title represent?
b. What does this story reflect/ reveal about Filipinos?
c. What trait/s of the Filipinos is/ are implied in the story regarding their perspective about
foreigners? Does the story display ethnocentrism or xenocentrism?
d. Do you think being Xenocentric is good? What about being ethnocentric?
e. What lesson/lessons does the author wish to convey to the Filipino readers in this story?
f. What is meant by “dayuhan tax” in the story?
g. Cite pieces of evidence where the narrator is given special treatment in the Philippines.
h. What do you think is/ are the reason/s why some, if not many, of the Filipino characters
in the story give special treatment to the narrator?
i. Do you think giving special treatment to foreigners, Fil-Am or other mixed Filipino
descent promote sense of self-love and patriotism among Filipinos?
j. What do you think does the narrator have to deserve all the special treatment given to
her?
k. How does the narrator feel about the special treatment and attention she has been
receiving?
l. Evaluate yourself on your perception about the culture, the appearance, and the quality of
life of the foreigners you know on social media, or the ones you have met, or the mere
thought about foreigners. Do you think you are inferior or superior to them? Cite your
reasons for having such belief.
Activity 7. Watch the movie “Abnkkbsanaplako?!” by Bob Ong. Answer the questions that
follow.

mdc-shs
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMGGK0GY5lU

a. Do you think “Abnkkbsanaplako?!” is a good piece? If it is, what makes it a good

one?
b. Comment on how Bob Ong presents his autobiography. What makes it different from
the usual autobiographies?
c. What lesson/s in life does Bob Ong’s experiences teach?
d. What impact does the title “Abnkkbsanaplako?!” give to the whole piece?
e. What literary devices does he make use of to give a different effect in presenting the
highlighted experiences in his life?
NOTE: Activities 6 and 7 should be submitted on October 23,2020 via Quipper Messaging
Function.

mdc-shs