LITERATURE AFTER EDSA

Nong mga panahong ito, nakita nito ang pagbagsak ng yumaong Pangulong
Ferdinand Marcos nang ilagay niya ang Pilipinas sa ilalim ng martial rule o batas
militar noong Setyembre 21,1972. Ang pagkilos na ito ay hindi lamang inaapi ang
karapatan ng mga manunulat sa malayang pagpapahayag but it also created
conditions that made collaboration and cooperation convenient choices for artists
na nakikipagpunyagi para sa pagkilala at kaligtasan.

Ang tanyag na "Edsa Revolution" na kung saan ay alam naman natin na ito ay
isang serye ng mga popular na demonstrasyon sa Pilipinas, mostly sa Metro
Manila. Nagkaroon ng patuloy campaign of civil resistance laban sa karahasan ng
rehimen at pandaraya sa elektoral. Ang walang dahas na rebolusyon rin ay ang
naging daan para sa paglipad ng diktador at ng kanyang pamilya sa Hawaii, USA
noong February 24,1986. Ito ang pagtatapos ng kanyang 20 taong na
panunungkulan sa pagkapangulo at ang pagpapanumbalik ng demokrasya sa
Pilipinas.

Ang pagsusulat sa ilalim ng Martial Law Regime ay nailalarawan sa pamamagitan
ng militancy at belligerence, kahit na ito ay nagpakita sa legal press. Lalo na
pagkatapos ng pagpaslang kay Ninoy Aquino noong 1983, the temper of poetry
and theatre derived much of its heat and direction from the political culture of the
underground national democratic movement.

However, when the enemy were overthrown in 1986, the literary activity showed a
certain disorientation manifesting itself in a proliferation of concerns taken up by
individual writers and groups.

The post EDSA centers for creative writing may be grouped into two. To the first
group belong the academic institutions kung saan ang creative writing is part of
the curricular offerings, at ang mga mag-aaral na may major sa panitikan ay
maaaring
makipag-ugnayan
sa
mga
matatandang
malikhaing
writer/critic/professor na ang mga pananaw ay nagbigay ng malaking impluwensya
sa pagsulat ng mga kabataan.

Siliman University- where a writing program and summer writers workshop
together have turned out many writers in English
University of the Philippines- which has a creative
Ateneo de Manila University
De la Salle University
San Carlos University
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


Sa pamamagitan ng twin centers na ito, writers get to hear about new
developments in writing and dito rin sila nakahuhugot ng kanilang sigasig para sa
kanilang mga gawa o craft. Ang dalawang "unyon" ay gumaganap bilang mga
payong kung saan ang mga manunulat na kabilang sa iba’t ibang mga
organisasyon ay nakikipagsalamuha sa mga kapwa nila manunulat.

Award giving bodies, annual competitions and publications provide the incentives
for writers to keep producing. These actions perform the important service of
keeping the writers in the public consciousness, making it possible for
commentators and audiences to identify significant established writers and give
attention to emerging new talents.

Ang mga award giving body, taunang kompetisyon at publications ay nagbibigay
ng mga insentibo para sa mga manunulat na patuloy na gumagawa. Ang mga
pagkilos na ito ay gumaganap ng mahalagang serbisyo ng pagpapanatili sa mga
manunulat sa kamalayan ng publiko, at ginagawang making it possible for
commentators and audiences na makilala ang mga makabuluhang manunulat at
bigyang pansin ang mga umuusbong na mga bagong talento.


PalancaNCAA- The committee has the aim of developing writing that is multi-lingual, multicultural, and truly national.

Joining institutions in giving recognition to writers from specific sectors in society
are non-government organizations. One of which is the Amado V. Hernandez
Foundation, who sponsors an annual writing contest for workers and their
advocates. Another is the GAPAS (Reap) Foundation which has a similar contest
open to peasants and writers sympathetic to their cause. Lastly, the KAIBIGAN
which is a support group for overseas contract workers who opened a writing
contest for OCWs in 1989.

The national magazines that publish literary contributions during the post EDSA
period have been Midweek (poetry and fiction in either English or Filipino, but now
defunct); Philippine Graphic Weekly Magazine; Philippine Free Press; The Sunday
Inquirer Magazine; Liwayway; and the Solidarity.

UP has the Philippine Collegian; the Diliman Review and The Literary Apprentice
of Siliman University; Ateneo de Manila issues Heights and Pantas; Philippine
Studies also based in Ateneo; De La Salle University has a literary magazine
Malate and Likha in addition De La Salle publishes Malay; The University of Sto.
Tomas publishes the The Varsitarian; and the Polytechnic University of the
Philippines is the home of Bisig.

Overall, the character of the Philippine literary scene after “EDSA” maybe
pinpointed be referring to the theories that inform literary production, to the
products issuing from the publishers, to the dominant concerns demonstrated by
the writers’ output, and to the direction towards which literary studies are tending.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POST EDSA LITERATURE