Philippine literature in the Period of

the New Society (1972-1981)

Historical Background

The period of the New Society started on September 21, 1972. The Carlos
Palanca Awards continued to give annual awards.

Almost all themes in most writings dealt with the development or progress
of the country – like the Green Revolution, family planning, proper
nutrition, environment, drug addiction and pollution. The New Society tried
to stop pornography or those writings giving bad influences on the morals
of the people. All school newspapers were temporarily stopped and so with
school organizations.

The military government established a new office called the Ministry of

Public Affairs that supervised the newspapers, books and other
publications.

The government took part in reviving old plays like the Cenaculo, the
Zarzuela and the Embayoka of the Muslims. The Cultural Center of the
Philippines, the Folk Arts Theater and even the old Metropolitan Theater
were rebuilt in order to have a place for these plays.

Singing both Filipino and English songs received fresh incentives. Those sent
abroad promoted many Filipino songs.

The weekly publications like KISLAP, and LIWAYWAY helped a lot in the
development of literature. These became outlets for our writers to publish
many of their works.
A. FILIPINO POETRY DURING THE PERIOD OF THE NEW SOCIETY
Themes of most poems dealt with patience, regard for native culture,
customs and the beauties of nature and surroundings.

Many more composers added their bit during this period. Among
them were Freddie Aguilar, Jose Marie Chan and the group Tito, Vic
and Joey. ANAK of Freddie Aguilar became an instant success
because of the spirit and emotions revealed in the song. There were
even translations in Japanese and in other languages.

B. THE PLAY UNDER THE NEW SOCIETY

The government led in reviving old plays and dramas, like the
Tagalog Zarzuela, Cenaculo and the Embayoka of the Muslims which
were presented in the rebuilt Metropolitan Theater, the Folk Arts
Theater and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Many schools and organizations also presented varied plays.

The Mindanao State University presented a play Sining Embayoka at

the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

In 1977, the Tales of Manuvu, a new style of rock of the ballet opera
was also added to these presentations. This was performed by
Celeste Legaspi, Lea Navarro, Hadji Alejandro, Boy Camara, Anthony
Castello, Rey Dizon and choreographed by Alic Reyes. Even the
President’s daughter at the time participated as a performing artist in
the principal role of Santa Juana of Koral and in The Diary of Anne
Frank.

The following organizations contributed a lot to the development of

plays during this period:
1. PETA of Cecille Guidote and Lino Brocka
2. Repertory Philippines: of Rebecca Godines and Zenaida Amador
 3. UP Repertory of Behn Cervantes
4. Teatro Filipino by Rolando Tinio

C. RADIO AND TELEVISION

Radio continued to be patronized during this period. The play series
like SI MATAR, DAHLIA, ITO AND PALAD KO, and MR. LONELY were
the forms of recreation of those without television. Even the new
songs were first heard over the airwaves. However, many performing
artists in radio moved over to television because of higher pay.
Among these were Augusto Victa, Gene Palomo, Mely Tagasa, Lina
Pusing, and Ester Chavez. Popular television plays were GULONG NG
PALAD, FLOR DE LUNA, and ANNA LIZA. SUPERMAN AND TARZAN
were also popular with the youth.

D. FILIPINO FILMS
A yearly Pista ng mga Pelikulng Pilipino (Yearly Filipino Film Festival)
was held during this time. During the festival which lasted usually for
a month, only Filipino films were shown in all theaters in Metro
Manila. Prizes and trophies were awarded at the end of the festival in
recognition of excellence in film making and in role performances.
New kinds of films without sex or romance started to be made but
which were nevertheless well-received by the public. Among these
were:

1. MAYNILA… SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG written by Edgardo

Reyes and filmed under the direction of Lino Brocka. Bembol Roco
was the lead role.
2. MINSA’Y ISANG GAMU-GAMO; Nora Aunor was the principal
performer here.
3. GANITO KAMI NOO…PAANO KAYO NGAYON: led by Christopher
de Leon and Gloria Diaz.
4. INSIANG: by Hilda Koronel
 5. AGUILA: led by Fernando Poe Jr., Jay Ilagan and Christopher de
Leon

Sex films could not be shelved. Foreign, as well as local films dealing
the bold themes were the vehicles of producers to earn more money.

E. COMICS, MAGAZINES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

During this period of the New Society, newspapers donned new
forms. News on economic progress, discipline, culture, tourism and
the like were favored more than the sensationalized reporting of
killings, rape and robberies.

The leading papers during this period were:

1. BULLETIN TODAY
2. PILIPINO EXPRESS
3. TIMES JOURNAL
4. PHILIPPINE DAILY EXPRESS
5. PEOPLES JOURNAL
6. EVENING POST
7. BALITA
8. EVENING EXPRESS

LIWAYWAY had been an old-time favorite of the Filipinos since

1920. Other magazines were:

1. KISLAP 3. EXTRA HOT

2. BULAKLAK 4. JINGLE SENSATION

Like mushrooms, comics also proliferated everywhere and were

enjoyed by the masses. Among these were:

1. PILIPINO
2. HIWAGA
3. EXTRA
4. KLASIK
6. LOVE LIFE
7. ESPESYAL

AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATUE DURING THE NEW SOCIETY

Bilingual education which was initiated by the Board of National

Education as early as 1958 and continued up to the period of Martial
Rule in September 21, 1972, 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 wee 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.

Famous Writers and their works

Antonio Enriquez

Was raised in Zamboanga, now lives

with his wife Joy, two young sons,
and a grandchild in Cagayan de Oro
City, Mindanao Island,Philippines. He
has written several books of short
stories and novels--including the
short story collection "Dance a White
Horse to Sleep and Other Stories," and novel "Surveyors of the
Liguasan Marsh," both by UQP, Queensland, Australia--and spends
summer fishing in the island of Camiguin with his wife, sons, Julien
Patrick and Anton Vladimir.

He is now almost through with two historical novels, "An Invitation to

Dinner"--Zamboangueno revolt against Spain,1899, and "The
Survivors,"--A Zamboangueno small family forced as shield by
Japanese Imperial forces fleeing the Alies forces liberatng the
Philippines, 1944.

Gregorio C. Brillantes

A Palanca Award Hall of Famer and a multi-awarded fiction writer,is

one of the Philippines' most popular writers in English.

Known for his sophisticated and

elegant style, he has been compared
to James Joyce.[citation needed] He
often writes about individuals under
thirty, adolescent or post adolescent
ones who struggle with alienation from
family, society and from themselves.
His earlier collection of short stories earned him the title of the
"Catholic Writer". But elements of the fantastic also come in his
works. In the 2006 Graphic/Fiction Awards, the main local sponsor of
the contest, specialty book shop Fully Booked, acknowledged
Brillantes as one of the godfathers of fantastic literature in English by
naming the first category the Gregorio C. Brillantes Prize for Prose.

Brillantes is a native of Camiling, Tarlac. He obtained his Litt. B.

degree in the Ateneo de Manila University. He has edited Sunburst,
The Manila Review, Focus, Asia-Philippines Leader and the
Philippines Free Press. Among his published collections of short
stories are: The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories,[2][3] The
Apollo Centennial, Help,[4] and On a Clear Day in November Shortly
Before the Millennium, Stories for a Quarter Century.

He also has published collections of essays: Looking for Rizal in

Madrid, Chronicles of Interesting Times, and The Cardinal's Sins, the
General's Cross, the Martyr's Testimony and other Affirmations.

He acted as one of the judges of the Philippine Graphic Novel Awards

in 2007.

Leoncio P. Deriada

He was born in Iloilo but spent most of

his life in Davao. He went to school at
the Davao City High School and
graduated in 1955. He earned his BA
English degree at the Ateneo de Davao
University where he graduated cum
laude in 1959. He later received his MA
in English from Xavier University in 1970
and went on to receive his PhD in English
and Literature with a specialization in creative writing from Silliman
University in 1981 where he later on served as professor and
chairperson of the English Department.

He is a multi-lingual writer having produced works in English, Filipino,

Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a and Cebuano. His seventeen Palanca awards
include works in English, Filipino and Hiligaynon. Of these seventeen,
five are first-prize winners, and these include "The Day of the
Locusts" (Short Story, 1975), "Mutya ng Saging" (Dulaang May Isang
Yugto, 1987), "The Man Who Hated Birds" (Short Story for Children,
1993), "Medea of Siquijor" (One-Act Play, 1999), and "Maragtas: How
Kapinangan Tricked Sumakwel Twice" (Full-Length Play, 2001). He
became a Palanca Hall of Famer on September 1, 2001. Aside from
his Palanca awards, he has garnered other prestigious awards such as
the Gawad CCP para sa Sining, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni
Balagtas, Asiaweek, Graphic, Focus, Yuhum (Iloilo), and Blue Knight
Award from Ateneo de Davao for Outstanding Achievement in
Literature. In 2002, he was one of Metrobank's Outstanding
Teachers.

He is Professor Emeritus of the University of the Philippines Visayas.

Dr. Deriada was the head of the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino at the U.P.
Visayas. He was also an associate of the U.P. Institute of Creative
Writing.

Cirilo F. Bautista

Was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction. He was conferred

with the National Artist of the Philippines award in 2014.

Bautista was born in Manila on July 9, 1941 and spent his childhood
in Balic-Balic, Sampaloc.

He received his basic education from Legarda Elementary School (1st

Honorable Mention, 1954) and Mapa High School (Valedictorian,
1959). He received his degrees in AB Literature from the University of
Santo Tomas (magna cum laude, 1963),
MA Literature from St. Louis University,
Baguio (magna cum laude, 1968), and
Doctor of Arts in Language and
Literature from De La Salle University-
Manila (1990). He received a fellowship
to attend the International Writing
Program at the University of Iowa
(1968–1969).
Bautista has also received Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards (for
poetry, fiction and essay in English and Filipino) as well as Philippines
Free Press Awards for Fiction, Manila Critics' Circle National Book
Awards, Gawad Balagtas from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng
Pilipinas, the Pablo Roman Prize for the Novel, and the highest
accolades from the City of Manila, Quezon City and Iligan City.
Bautista was hailed in 1993 as Makata ng Taon by the Komisyon ng
mga Wika ng Pilipinas for winning the poetry contest sponsored by
the government. The last part of his epic trilogy The Trilogy of Saint
Lazarus, entitled Sunlight on Broken Stones, won the Centennial Prize
for the epic in 1998. He was an exchange professor in Waseda
University and Ohio University. He became an Honorary Fellow in
Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in 1969, and was the first
recipient of a British Council fellowship as a creative writer at Trinity
College, Cambridge in 1987.

Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta

Was a Filipino poet, editor, author, and teacher. One of the country's
most respected writers, Dimalanta published several books of poetry,
criticism, drama, and prose and edited various literary
anthologies.[1] In 1999, she received Southeast Asia's highest literary
honor, the S.E.A. Write Award.

Born in San Juan City in the

Philippines, Dimalanta took up her
bachelor's degree, Master's Degree,
and Doctor of Philosophy at the
University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Trained as a concert pianist,
Dimalanta focused on poetry,
publishing her first collection of poems, Montage in 1974.

Dimalanta served as the Writer in Residence and a Full Professor of

Literature and Creative Writing at the UST Graduate School and at
the Faculty of Arts and Letters until her untimely passing. During her
academic career, she held various administrative posts, including the
position of Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and Director of the
Center for Creative Writing and Studies.

A panelist for various writing workshops at UST, University of the

Philippines, Silliman University in Dumaguete, and Mindanao State
University-Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan, Dimalanta served as
a judge in prominent literary award-giving bodies such as the
National Book Awards by the Manila Critics' Circle, Philippines Free
Press Literary Awards, and Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature. This status, alongside her teaching experience, enabled
her to reach and influence generations of journalists and creative
writers like Recah Trinidad, Arnold Azurin, Cirilo Bautista, Albert B.
Casuga, Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Eric Gamalinda, Jose Neil Garcia,
Mike Coroza, and Lourd de Veyra.

Dimalanta published several books in her lifetime: seven books on

poetry, one on drama, one on criticism, and one on her collected
prose. Her first collection of poems, Montage, won the Iowa State
University Best Poetry Award (1969), and first prize (poetry category)
in the Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (1974).

She was a founding member and served as chairman of the Manila

Critics Circle and an honorary fellow of the Philippine Literary Arts
Council. Poet and critic Cirilo F. Bautista hailed her as "not only our
foremost woman poet but also one of the best poets writing now,
regardless of gender."
Dimalanta also wrote critical reviews in international journals and
local periodicals and taught at Colegio de San Juan de Letran and De
La Salle University. The Ateneo de Manila University honored
Dimalanta with the 13th Paz Marquez-Benitez Memorial Lecture and
Exhibit which was organized by the Ateneo Library of Women’s
Writings (Aliww).

These are also some of the books that came out

during this period:

I Married a Newspaperman (essay) by Maria Luna Lopez (wife of

newsapaperman Salvador B. Lopez), 1976

The Modern Filipino Short Story by Patricia Melendrez Cruz, 1980

Cross Currents in Afro-Asian Literature, by Rustica D. Carpio, 1976

Brief Time to Love by Ofelia F. Limcaco

Medium Rare and Tell the People (feature articles and TV Program)
by Julie Yap Daza

Reference:

https://aboutphilippines.ph/files/philippineliterature-091020093804-
phpapp01.pdf