Literature Delights: Batangas

Batangas: Brief History

Batangas Map

Taal Volcano

Batangas, officially known as the Province of Batangas (Filipino: Lalawigan ng Batangas) is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the island of Mindoro and to the west lies the South China Sea. Poetically, Batangas is often referred to by its ancient name Kumintáng.

The first recorded name of the province was Kumintáng, whose political center was the present-day municipality (town) of Balayan. Balayan was considered the most progressive town of the region. An eruption of Taal Volcano destroyed a significant portion of the town, causing residents to transfer to Bonbon (now Taal), the name eventually encompassing the bounds of the modern province.

The term Batangan means a raft which the people used so that they could fish in the nearby Taal Lake. It also meant the numerous logs found in the Calumpang River, the body of water that runs through the northeastern portion of the town and assumes the shape of a tuning fork.

Like the other provinces in CALABARZON, Batangas has also its own style of literature. Its batangueno writers build the face of the province in the field of literature.

Writers

Teodoro Agoncillo

Teodoro Agoncillo

Teodoro Andal Agoncillo (November 9, 1912 – January 14, 1985) was a 20th-century Filipino historian. He and his contemporary Renato Constantino were among the first Filipino historians renowned for promoting a distinctly nationalist point of view of Filipino history (nationalist historiography). He was also an essayist and a poet.

Works

The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Tyrone - (mainly a biography of Andres Bonifacio, 1956)

Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic - (sequel to Revolt of the Masses which discusses the events from Biak-na-Bato to the end of the Philippine–American War, 1960)

The Fateful Years: Japan's Adventure in the Philippines - (Philippine history during World War II, two volumes, 1965)

History of the Filipino People - (eight editions: 1960, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1990)

Claro M. Recto

Claro M. Recto

Claro Mayo Recto Jr. (born Claro Recto y Mayo; February 8, 1890 – October 2, 1960) was a Filipino statesman, jurist, poet and one of the foremost statesmen of his generation. He is remembered for his nationalism, for "the impact of his patriotic convictions on modern political thought".[2][3]

Poet, Playwright, Essayist

He was reared and schooled in the Spanish language, his mother tongue alongside Tagalog, and he was also fluent in English. He initially gained fame as a poet while a student at University of Santo Tomás when he published a book Bajo los Cocoteros (Under the Coconut Trees, 1911), a collection of his poems in Spanish. A staff writer of El Ideal and La Vanguardia, he wrote a daily column, Primeras Cuartillas (First Sheets), under the nom de plume "Aristeo Hilario." They were prose and numerous poems of satirical pieces. Some of his works still grace classic poetry anthologies of the Hispanic world.

Among the plays he authored were La Ruta de Damasco (The Route to Damascus, 1918), and Solo entre las sombras (Alone among the Shadows, 1917), lauded not only in the Philippines, but also in Spain and Latin America. Both were produced and staged in Manila to critical acclaim in the mid 1950s.

In 1929, his article Monroismo asiático (Asiatic Monroism) validated his repute as a political satirist. In what was claimed as a commendable study in polemics, he proferred his arguments and defenses in a debate with Dean Máximo Kálaw of the University of the Philippines where Kálaw championed a version of the Monroe Doctrine with its application to the Asian continent, while Recto took the opposing side. The original Monroe doctrine (1823) was U.S. President James Monroe's foreign policy of keeping the Americas off-limits to the influence of the Old World, and states that the United States, Mexico, and countries in South and Central America were no longer open to European colonization. Recto was passionately against its implementation in Asia, wary of Japan's preeminence and its aggressive stance towards its neighbors. In his deliberation, he wrote about foreseeing the danger Japan posed to the Philippines and other Asian countries. His words proved prophetic when Japan invaded and colonized the region, including the Philippines from 1942-45.

His eloquence and facility with the Spanish language were recognized throughout the Hispanic world. The Enciclopedia Universal says of him: "Recto, more than a politician and lawyer, is a Spanish writer, and that among those of his race" (although he had Irish and Spanish ancestors), "there is not and there has been no one who has surpassed him in the mastery of the language of his country's former sovereign.

Speeches and Writings

A realistic economic policy for the Philippines. Speech delivered at the Philippine Columbian Association, September 26, 1956. ISBN B0007KCFEM

On the Formosa Question, 1955 ISBN B0007JI5DI

United States-Philippine Relations, 1935-1960. Alicia Benitez, ed. University of Hawaii, 1964.

Three years of enemy occupation: The issue of political collaboration in the Philippines. Filipiniana series, 1985 Filipiana reprint. ISBN B0007K1JRG

Our trade relations with the United States, 1954 ISBN B0007K8LS6

The evil of religious test in a democracy, 1960 ISBN B0007K4Y8W

Solo entre las sombres: Drama en un acto y en prosa, 1917; reprinted 1999 ISBN 971-555-306-0

Asiatic monroeism and other essays: Articles of debate, 1930 ISBN B0008A5354

The law of belligerent occupation and the effect of the change of sovereignty on the commonwealth treason law: With particular reference to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, 1946

Our lingering colonial complex, a speech before the Baguio Press Association, 1951

The Quirino junket: an Objective Appraisal, 1949 ISBN B0007K4A7W

The Philippine survival: Nationalist essays by Claro M. Recto, 1982

Claro Recto on our Constitution, Constitutional Amendments and the Constitutional Convention of 1991

Our mendicant foreign policy, a speech at the commencement exercises, University of the Philippines, 1951

The Recto Valedictory, a collection of 10 never-delivered speeches, with English translations by Nick Joaquin, 1985

[1] [2] Vintage Recto: Memorable speeches and writings, edited by Renato Constantino, 1986

Recto Reader: Excerpts from the Speeches of Claro M. Recto. edited by Renato Constantino, 1965 ISBN B0006E72Z6

Bienvenido Lumbera

Bienvenido Lumbera

Bienvenido Lumbera is a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. He is a National Artist of the Philippines and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications. He won numerous literary awards, including the National Book Awards from the National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards.

At the height of Martial Law, Lumbera had taken on other creative projects. He began writing librettos for musical theater. Initially, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) requested him to create a musical based on Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart. Eventually, Lumbera created several highly acclaimed musical dramas such as Tales of the Manuvu; Rama, Hari; Nasa Puso ang Amerika; Bayani; Noli me Tangere: The Musical; and Hibik at Himagsik Nina Victoria Laktaw. Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na Dulang May Musika, an anthology of Lumbera's musical dramas, was published by De La Salle University-Manila Press in 2004. Lumbera authored numerous books, anthologies and textbooks such as: Revaluation; Pedagogy; Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology; Rediscovery: Essays in Philippine Life and Culture; Filipinos Writing: Philippine Literature from the Regions; and Paano Magbasa ng Panitikang Filipino: Mga Babasahing Pangkolehiyo.

Works

Poetry:

Ka Bel

The Yaya’s Lullaby

Servant

Sadness

Magic

Eulogy of Roaches

Literary criticism:

Revaluation: Essays on Literature, Cinema, and Popular Culture, 1984

Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences on Its Development, 1986

Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan, 1987

Textbooks:

Pedagogy

Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology

Rediscovery: Essays in Philippine Life and Culture

Filipinos Writing: Philippine Literature from the Regions

Paano Magbasa ng Panitikang Filipino: Mga Babasahing Pangkolehiyo