“Filipino Literature (or Philippine Literature, if you will) in Spanish” or Literatura Filipina en Español is a redundant term. Filipino/Philippine Literature should automatically be regarded as written in the Spanish language especially if we take into account its historico-etymological origin and connotation.
The word Filipino itself is creole/mestizo, forged from three centuries of cultural synthesis between Spanish and indigenous which blossomed —quite ironically— during the US occupation era. That is why when we talk of Filipino/Philippine Literature, we should, therefore, free ourselves from being boxed in the works of Carlos Bulosan, N. V. M. González, Edith Tiempo, Bienvenido Santos, José García Villa, and even my much vaunted favorite Nick Joaquín no matter how much he elucidated on the importance of our national identity against the backdrop of our Spanish past. Their works are considered as FILIPINO/PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH. On the other hand, their Spanish-language progenitor which is FILIPINO/PHILIPPINE LITERATURE should no longer be followed with the modifier “IN SPANISH”. The literary phase in our country’s history that gave birth to it —from Tomás Pinpín to Luis Rodríguez Varela to José Rizal to Federico Espino— nurtured it in the Spanish tradition which includes its language.
We have a horde of authors in that language that needed to be revisited; they have recorded in prose and verse the setting in which our grandfathers had thrived. Thankfully, the Instituto Cervantes de Manila has published four of them: Enrique K. Laygo’s Relatos, Jesús Balmori’s Los Pájaros de Fuego, Adelina Gurrea’s Cuentos de Juana, and Antonio M. Abad’s El Campeón. The names of these authors may have already been forgotten in today’s “inglis-ispokening” environment, but that doesn’t mean that their worth has been diminished. They were, in fact, very much revered in their time, even by the masses, compared to how we regard our authors in English who are, more often than not, forcefully taught to us in schools.
In sum, local literature that is written in languages other than Spanish can be attached with a modifier: Filipino Literature in Tagálog, Filipino Literature in English, Filipino Literature in Cebuano, Filipino Literature in Ilocano, etc. But the term Filipino Literature should stay as it is when it is written in the language of Cervantes.
EL FILIPINISMO 