FILAMER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education

Accredited Level IV– ACSCU-ACI
Roxas Avenue, Roxas City, Capiz 5800

GE10 PHILIPPINE POPULAR CULTURE

Lesson 3: History and Evolution of Philippine Popular

Culture
History of Popular Culture
Popular culture can be traced back to the Spanish period of the Philippines.
It was employed and brought by the Spanish to the native Filipinos through
literature and plays to capture their hearts; thus emphasizing the colonial
origins of popular culture in the Philippines.

It began as a replacement of the native culture with a Christian and

European tradition through the children of the native elites. They became
the means for appeasing the natives through vernacular literary forms. One
such popular form was the representation of Jesus Christ‟s suffering and
resurrection through plays or drama. This form served as a vessel for the
spread of Christianity while the songs and comedy were vessels for the
Spanish monarchy.

Popular culture was introduced to the Philippines to win the Filipino

populace to the ideology of the Spanish regime. It was created to promote
the Church and the State‟s interest.

When the Americans came to colonize the Philippines, the appropriately-

called popular culture was introduced to the Philippines. The printing press,
radio, television, and film paved the way for the speedy circulation of
popular culture forms. Hollywood films reigned over the Philippine market.

According to Bienvenido Lumbera, popular literature is considered a

commodity and it is intended for a mass market. As a commodity, it was
seen as a threat to “serious artistic work” because the writers favored the
desires of publishers and editors who were more concerned with sales
rather than aesthetics. Additionally, popular culture is not caused by the
populace but instead, it is caused either by the ruling elite or members of a
chose few who are under the employ of those elite for the consumption of
the populace.

Popular culture in the Philippines is a concern. Popular culture is in

question because of the following reasons.
1. The Philippines is a third world country.
2. The Philippines has many indigenous ethnic groups that are still not
urbanized.
3. The Philippines has a long history of two major cultural influences:
Spanish and American.
4. The Philippines is still predominantly agricultural in its present socio-
economic status.
5. The Philippines is still dependent on foreign economies.

The definition of popular culture in the Philippines is not just “of the people”
but “of the mass”, which is basically construed to be urban and
industrialized.

Popular culture in the Philippines is a culture generated by mass media that

consists of film, radio, television, and press. They were introduced in the
twentieth century but are still exclusively urban. The earliest form of popular
culture research in the Philippines is mass communication research. It is
concerned with content analyses and effects on the audience. In the
mid70s, literature scholars began examining film, television, radio, and
comics as modes of fiction and drama. Their main concern was the cultural
values and the way the transmission of these values are being done. This
concern was brought up by the so-called “serious” literature, which are the
novel, the short story, the poem, and the play because these were not
reaching the majority, not even the urban masses, and definitely not the
rural masses.

History and Evolution of Popular Culture

“Building a culture has to start with a foundation, and that foundation must
necessarily be the culture of the Filipino people if this could be separated
with the encrustations grown on it by colonial rule.”

Popular culture, according to National Artist for literature Beinvenido

Lumbera in his book 0Revaluation: Essays on Philippine Literature, Theatre
and popular Culture (1984), is highly different from the folk culture and
nationalist culture of the Filipinos. In a nutshell, folk culture is the way of
living in a place in a specific time and portrays the practices of a certain
people, and on how they cope to survive with nature. Nationalist culture
created through colonial resistance with the collective of a people on a
given place and time. These two are different from popular culture which
can be traced even in the period of Hispanization of the Philippines.

According to Lumbera, popular culture in the Philippines was created and

used by the Spaniards to the native Filipinos or Indios via plays and
literature to get the heart of the natives and win it. The colonial origins of
popular culture found in the Philippines can be traced by looking at salient
developments in Philippine literature. The first permanent Spanish
settlement began replacing the native culture with a Christian and
European tradition. The children of the native elite under the tutelage of
missionaries became a core group of intelligentsia called „ladinos‟, as they
became instrumental “in bringing into the vernacular, literary forms that
were to be vehicles for the “pacification of the natives”. Forms of popular
theatre and literature such as “the pasyon, sinakulo, and korido ensured
the acceptance and spread of Christianity, and the komedya and awit did
the same for the monarchy”. Popular culture as introduced by the Spanish
was “popular” to the extent that it was a “watering-down of Spanish-
European culture at the times was created by colonial authorities, with the
aid of the local intelligentsia, to promote the interest of the Church and the
State.

However, once the native intelligentsia saw the effects of popular culture
and knew how to work its way as a propaganda, they soon used the
Spanish weapon against them. In the 19th century, through the Propaganda
movement, the native intelligentsia used the same forms of popular culture
to” undermine the power of the abusive friars and rally the populace to put
an end to the colonial rule” one example is the work of Marcelo H. del Pilar
when he soon used prayers such as the „Aba, Ginoong Maria‟ and „Ama
Namin‟ in assort of parody to strike against the abusive Spanish Friars.

The advent of American colonialism brought the properly so-called, popular

culture to the Philippines. The liberal policy regarding the printing press,
soon through radio, television and film, increased the circulation of popular
culture forms. Not only through these forms but also in new media then,
such as films. Hollywood film had a near-monopoly in the Philippine market
especially in the absence of European movies due to World War I.

Early on, the local intelligentsia has the same apprehensions over mass
media as they called it commercialization, or vulgarization of art. According
to Lumbera, the local intelligentsia noticed that “Popular literature as a
commodity intended for a mass market was seen to pose a threat to
serious to serious artistic work, because the writers accommodated his art
to the to the demands of the publishers and editors who were more
interested in sales rather than aesthetic.

To see it in Lumbrera‟s lens, “Popular culture is power, and whoever wields

it to manipulate minds is likely to find its literary and technological
machinery turned against him when the minds it has manipulated discover
its potency as a political weapon.
The role of Filipinos in the cyclic process of Construction,
deconstruction, and reconstruction of Philippine popular culture
Filipinos play a significant role in the cyclic process of construction,
deconstruction, and reconstruction of Philippine popular culture. Let‟s delve
into this fascinating journey:
1. Construction:
 Construction involves creating, developing, and shaping culture.
 Cultural constructions are dynamic and change over time. They
are not fixed forever but evolve within individual cultures.
 The Filipino culture itself is a blend of traditional Filipino, Spanish
Catholic, American, and Asian influences.
 Popular culture in the Philippines originated during the colonial
period when the Spaniards used plays and literature to engage the
native Filipinos (Indios). These cultural forms aimed to win over
the hearts of the locals.
2. Deconstruction:
 Deconstruction involves questioning, analyzing, and challenging
existing cultural norms and constructs.
 In the context of Philippine popular culture, deconstruction occurs
when Filipinos critically examine and reinterpret elements inherited
from colonial times.
 Salient developments in Philippine literature played a crucial role
in this process.
 Forms of popular theater and literature, such as Pasyon,
Sinakulo, and Korido, contributed to the acceptance and spread of
Christianity and the monarchy.
3. Reconstruction:
 Reconstruction involves reimagining, reshaping, and redefining
cultural elements.
 As Filipinos engage in reconstruction, they infuse their own
perspectives, experiences, and contemporary context into cultural
expressions.
 The Spanish-introduced popular culture was a watered-down
version of European culture, tailored to serve the ideology of the
colonial regime.
 Today, Filipinos continue to reconstruct their popular culture,
blending tradition with modernity, resilience, and creativity.
In essence, Filipinos actively participate in this cyclic dance, weaving
together the threads of the past, present, and future to shape the vibrant
tapestry of Philippine popular culture
REFERENCES:
GROUP 6 - 1 THE ROLE OF FILIPINOS IN THE CYCLIC PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTION OF THE PHILIPPINE POP CULTUR - THE ROLE OF
FILIPINOS IN THE CYCLIC PROCESS | Course Hero, March 2, 2024