Folk Media

Literature
Poetry
The late 1960s constituted a pivotal period. The sense of deepening social crisis indexed by the
reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1969, the anti-Vietnam War protest, and
the rise of radical student activism, brought writers once more to directly confront the issue of the
writers role in social change. A key event of this period was the establishment of the Panulat para sa
Kaunlaran ng Samabayanan or PAKSA in 1971, led by Bienvenido Lumbera, Jose F. Lacaba, Virgilio
Almario, and others. Marxism was an important influence of the period and Mao Zedongs Talks at the
Yenan Forum became a key critical text for writers. At another remove, the interest in the writer as
agent in social transformation drew from the dialectics of art and politics which had been a long
running theme in Philippine literary history.
The period of Martial Law, begun in 1972 and officially lifted in 1981, restricted the debate and practice
among writers. An underground literature, however, carried out a radical critique of Philippine
society. Poets in this stream included Clarita Roja, aka Mila Aguilar; Servando Magbanua, aka Jose
Percival Estocado; Jason Montana; Kris Montaez; Alan Jazmines; and Levy Balgos de la Cruz. Even as
responses to the martial-law situation varied, the experience, in sum, strengthened and tempered the
writers understanding of the complexities of social reality as well as the demands of their craft.
Prose
In the 1960s, fresh work in fiction was done by young writers like Ninotchka Rosca, Erwin Castillo, Luis
Teodoro Jr., Antonio Enriquez, Norma Miraflor, Wilfredo Pascua Sanchez, and Renato E. Madrid, aka Fr.
Rodolfo Villanueva. However, deepening social and political crisis, as indexed in the establishment of
PAKSA in 1971, caught up with the writers. In the years immediately preceding the declaration of
Martial Law on 21 September 1972, political pressures transformed a generation of intellectuals so that
writers who, only a few years earlier cultivated Western values of angst and ennui, came to be politically
radicalized.
The immediate pre-Martial Law period, marked by such events as the First Quarter Storm of 1970 and
the Plaza Miranda Massacre of 1971, changed the intellectual situation drastically. An important
phenomenon was the rise of Marxism. Socialist ideas first entered the country at the turn of the
century, inspired trade unions and peasant organizations, and found embodiment in the Communist
Party of the Philippines in 1930. Marxist ideas, as expressed not only in Lenin, Gorki, and Plekhanov, but
American writers like Sinclair Lewis, Clifford Odets, and James Farrell, influenced writers of the 1930s. It
was, however, in the late 1960s and the years that followed that the communist armed movement
reached unprecedented heights; Marxism, as mediated by Chinese rather than American communism,
also emerged as a major intellectual force in Philippine life.

The principle of literature from the masses, to the masses spurred the use of local languages (as
against English), a new respect for folk and popular forms, more direct and simpler forms of
communication, and a view that demystified the writers role in the creation of culture. The short
story acquired a sharper social edge, as shown in the Tagalog stories of Rogelio Sicat, Dominador
Mirasol, Domingo Landicho, Ricardo Lee, Fanny Garcia, Ave Perez Jacob, and others. The politicization
of fiction is illustrated in Sigwa (Storm), 1972, an anthology of stories by E. San Juan Jr., Efren Abueg,
Norma Miraflor, Ricky Lee, Wilfrido Virtusio, and Fanny Garcia.
Martial Law stifled creativity. Newspapers and magazines were suspended and media came under strict
government surveillance as the Marcos government attempted an ideological reformation of society.
The war in the countryside also cost the lives of young writers, like Emmanuel Lacaba and Ma. Lorena
Barros, who had taken to the field to join cause with the New Peoples Army and who were both
killed in 1976. Resistance spawned an underground literature that continues to this day, illustrated by
such publications as Magsasaka: Ang Bayaning Di-Kilala (Farmer: The Unknown Hero), 1984, an
anthology of protest writing. Even above ground, however, what was called a literature of
circumvention (and even of open dissent) developed, coming to a head after the assassination of
Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983 and the collapse of the Marcos government in 1986.
Visual Arts
Street Art
The social realists resumed the postwar trend in proletarian art and expanded earlier nationalist
themes. Working in varying styles and constructing an iconography of symbols, they dealt on such
protest themes as agrarian problems, foreign economic domination, export labor, exploitation of
women and children, and ecological damage, while they expressed their aspirations for genuine
freedom. Furthermore, they have worked in a variety of popular forms, such as comics, editorial
cartoons, illustrations, posters, and portable murals for rallies to be able to reach a larger number of
viewers. Art of sociopolitical signification, as in the work of first generation social realists Pablo Baens
Santos aka Adi Baens Santos, Edgar Fernandez, Orlando Castillo, Antipas Delotavo, Jose Tence Ruiz, and
Renato Habulan, remains an important trend among younger artists, like Charlie Co, Peewee Roldan,
and Nunelucio Alvarado of Negros Occidental, and Aster Tecson of Cordillera. Sociopolitical themes are
also expressed in the sculptures of Jerusalino Araos and Rey Paz Contreras.
Komiks
Cartoons and komiks (comics) have been the most popular visual art forms in the country since the turn
of the century. Beginning as satirical comments in newspapers during the late Spanish period, cartoons
developed into editorial comments and major illustrations in Lipang Kalabaw, Telembang, The
Independent, The Philippines Free Press, and other publications during the American period, in the
hands of artists like Jose V. Pereira, Jorge Pineda, and Esmeraldo Z. Izon. Since 1946 major dailies and
weeklies have carried social and political cartoons by Demetrio Diego, Malang, Liborio Gatbonton aka
Gat, Rod Dayao, Edgar Soller, Corky Trinidad, Hugo Yonzon Jr., Danilo Dalena, Tence Ruiz, Neil Doloricon,
and Arnel Mirasol.

Comic strips that made fun of foibles of the Filipino and reflected the concerns of their times include the
pioneering Kenkoy and selected characters by Tony Velasquez, Buhay Pilipino (Filipino Life) by Mars
Ravelo, Kalabog en Bosyo (Kalabog and Bosyo), and Asyong Aksaya (Wasteful Asyo) by Larry Alcala,
Tisoy (mestizo swain) and Ikabod Bubwit by Nonoy Marcelo.
Visual artists who did romanticized drawings for fantasy or historical serials include: Francisco V.
Coching who wrote and illustrated El indio (The Native), Gat Sibasib, and Satur, Elpidio Torres also drew
Dyesebel and Diyosa; Nestor Redondo who was responsible for Darna and Diwani; Federico C. Javinal
who did El Vibora (The Viper) and Zuma; Mar T. Santana who illustrated Astrobal and Bakekang; and
Steve Gan who drew Ang Panday (The Blacksmith) and Mekanizmo (Mechanism).
Artists who have done more realistic illustrations of ordinary types and everyday situations are:
Redondo who was responsible for Gilda and Batang Bangkusay (Bangkusay Born); Danny Velasquez who
did DI-13 and Kidlat (Lightning); Fred Carrillo who visualized MN and Apat na Agimat (Four Talismans);
and Joey Celerio who illustrated Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (If the Clouds Ever Part) and Dapat Ka Bang
Mahalin? (Do You Deserve to Be Loved?).
Performing Arts
Theater
Just before the imposition of Martial Law in 1972, some kind of merging happened among these theater
traditions in the activist (also called street, protest) theater. Influences from American, European,
Chinese, and native theaters converged in the need to convey urgent messages of protest and change,
and resulted in the street plays staged at Plaza Miranda, in front of factories and buildings, and during
rallies and demonstrations. Adaptations were made of Clifford Odets Waiting for Lefty, of Rogelio
Sicat s Moses, Moses, of Lope de Vegas Fuente Ovejuna, of the Chinese Taking Tiger Mountain by
Strategy, sometimes in combination with Philippine folk songs and dances. The young playwrights,
directors, and actors were calling on everything they knew and remembered of theater, in the urgency
of their expression. The language was Filipinoor Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocanobut the theater
experience reflected in the plays was an amalgam of traditions.
Songs
Pinoy Folk. The influence of the 1960s folk balladeers Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary, and
Judy Collins was absorbed by the Filipino popular music culture, which adapted not only the singing style
and structural elements of the music, but also the general character of the text. Filipino artists have
used the folk ballad to communicate nationalist ideas and semididactic messages, and to convey their
rebellion against authority and convention. Simple strophic melodies were combined with texts that
could be poetic or steeped in political rhetoric. The songs could be a diatribe against Filipino colonial
mentality, a plea for freedom from tyranny (especially in the context of the Marcos regime), or an
espousal of positive Filipino values. Florante de Leons fame rose with Akoy Pinoy (I Am a Filipino) and
Handog (Offering), while Heber Bartolome and his band Banyuhay contributed Tayoy Mga Pinoy
(We are Filipinos) and Nena. The international hit and prizewinning Anak (Child) of Freddie Aguilar is

a semibiographical ballad about Filipino family values. Inang Laya, composed of Karina ConstantinoDavid and Becky Demetillo-Abraham, specializes in protest music, dwelling on such issues as feminism in
Babae (Women) and US military presence in the Philippines in Base Militar (Military Base). Other
names that gained prominence in the Pinoy folk idiom and songs against oppression, political
corruption, and environmental pollution include Susan Fernandez-Magno, Jess Santiago, Gary Granada,
and Noel Cabangon.