Faith to the Fate of the 21st Century Philippine Literature

In response to the on-going debate regarding the major presence of sexual deviance and perversions surrounding well-known Wattpad stories with a wide readership base, it seems that most Filipino readers forgot the very essence and purpose of Filipino literature in our history. With the questionable romanticization and even normalization of themes such as pedophilia, sexual grooming, incest, and toxic relationships (Togonon,2020), it is quite disappointing how Filipino literature got to this point.

The Not-So-Short History of Philippine Literature

Dating back to the Pre-Colonial Era, our literature had been used as entertainment and moral compass of elders for children as it gives a vague moral lesson of stabilizing the balance and order of good deeds in their tribe by knowing the values and lessons they got from the protagonists in the stories. Notable examples of it are the known legends such as Alamat ng Pinya, and epics like Bi-ag ni Lam-ang from Ilocos; all considered as oral tradition due to the lack of pieces of evidence that these stories were written through papers. Even so, historian William Henry Scott retells the lost Visayan Literature such as Kabungaw and Bubung Ginbuna to his book Looking For The Prehispanic Filipino; showing that Pre-Colonial Literature has been there since the Spaniards came.

Gatekeeping of books had been done ever since the Spanish Era. Prior the printing of the first book(s) of the Philippines: The Doctrina Christiana En Lengua Española y Tagala and Shih-lu (Ocampo, 2013), King Phillip II of Spain ordered the Real Audiencia in Manila to not publish any grammar or dictionary of the language of the Indies unless it has been first examined by the Bishops and seen by the Real Audiencia (Wolf, 1947). This eventually led to the decline of Filipino languages as the medium of writing until Francisco Balagtas wrote his infamous allegorize Korido, Florante at Laura, in full Tagalog; earned praises and became a classic Filipino literary piece even if the setting and characters were not based in the Philippines.

With Jose Rizal’s literary works of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo becoming the catalyst of the Philippine Revolution, comes the new colonial era. The Americans shared the use of English in literature. National Artist Jose Garcia Villa used English on expressing himself aggressively in poetry, which led to his suspension at the University of The Philippines in 1929 after publishing his series of erotic poems called “Man Songs” that the university finds as too bold and obscene (Alcantara, 2011). Meanwhile, the usage of Filipino language became a cult classic as Jose Corazon de Jesus wrote accessible Tagalog poems and criticism against racism. Unfortunately, de Jesus could not fully escape conformism and the use of English as a weapon to reinforce the ideological hegemony of the imperial power in the sphere of culture (San Juan Jr., 2014).

Japanese occupation gave the idea of Haiku in poetry, while the Postcolonialism ideas emerging after the 2nd World War and during the Cold War paved the way to the sprung of feminist writers like Lualhati Bautista who gave the sense of realism to the situations of Filipinos within the vicinity of American military bases (Gapo) and during the Martial Law Era (Dekada ’70 and Desaparesidos); activism aspects through literature that was visible to Emmanuel F. Lacaba and Lorena Barros’ works; and Danton Remoto’s Ladlad series that entered the LGBT themes in our literature.

Before the new Millennium, the winning of Smaller and Smaller Circles of F.H. Batacan to the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in 1999 gave a positive glimpse of what our literature might be to the 21st Century. With the impact of giving the Manila Noir theme and becoming the first Filipino crime novel (Hidalgo, 2006), it is a great foreshadow of how innovative the 21st Century Literature might be.

Or so.

Traditional Book Publishing vs. Wattpad and Other Online Book Publishing

The 21st Century opened the gates of massive gatekeeping of Filipino literature. Although the country boasts great Traditional Book publishing -inclined authors like Bob Ong and Eros Atalia to name a few; most of the younger generation was hooked to the more accessible and free readings, which are the e-book platforms like Booklat, Inkitt, AO3, and the famous Wattpad.

Unlike the traditional book publishing where there would be deliberations of whether a manuscript should be published by the book publisher or even marketed to the bookstores; Wattpad and other online publishing platforms became the angel-sent answer for frustrated writers who want to write and express their ideas online. This pave way for them to have readers without getting to the tensed thesis-like defense and budget gamble that traditional book publishing is giving throughout the centuries.

On the other hand, Wattpad and other e-book platforms provide one-click-away publishing for writers who want to write whatever they want to. This leads to the toxic themes engraving the platforms for its loose gatekeeping, and making these published books online as eye-candy novels for the younger generation as their curiosity for mature contents allures them to click and read the known books that are recommended by their peers.

Wattpad Publishing = Substantial Thoughts, Low Moral Values, Trash Comedy, Disgusting Ideas, and Poorly Researched Stories?

Sic Santos’ infamous Wattpad novel called Diary ng Hindi Malandi (Slight Lang) portrays a woman named Pilar Payoson, or Pipay, who has the worst hygiene everyone could imagine. Pipay writes her stomach-turning journey and anecdotes like not changing her underwear and mistakenly using a feminine wash as a hair shampoo to her diary.

The worst passage might be Malanding Entry #3 where Pipay wishes to be raped as she goes home…

And also wishing that her dream that night would be her crush molesting her as she sleeps.

At first, it might be a satirical approach to weird women, mostly fans of some artists, who also have the same sentiments such as having rape and molestation fantasies. According to Bivona and Critelli, 31% and 57% of women have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will, and for 9% to 17% of women, these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience. Meanwhile, let’s not hide the fact that in 2014, Knoema’s World Data Atlas claims that the rape rate for the Philippines alone was 10 cases per 100,000 population. It increased from 3.4 cases per 100,000 population in 2005 to 10 cases per 100,000 population in 2014; growing at an average annual rate of 19.08%.

Diaries are also people’s personal spaces that give them the freedom to write whatever they want. An example of it is Anne Frank’s Diary that became a best-seller. In the Definitive Edition, it highlights the subtle relationship between Frank and her mother that was not added to the other autobiographical books of Frank. Meanwhile, in 2018, researchers from the Netherlands uncover Frank’s hidden diary pages where she talked about sex education and risque jokes (Chiu, 2018).

Unfortunately, these passages screenshotted by concerned readers from his Wattpad book showed no traits of satirical aspects towards the self-problems women are facing today. The shallow comedy published by Santos leads to misogynistic themes such as degrading women’s sexual ideas, being naive to social issues that affect her group such as having the guts to make fun of rape and molestation; mocking how women do their hygiene, and the false claim of how women write their diary without any hints of self-respect.

Another author, VentreCanard, also gave a questionable insight about rape jokes in literature. In her story, The Prince Who Bit the Poisonous Apple, Wayto, one of her book’s characters, dropped the line “Kasal muna, bago gahasa,” (Marriage first before rape). Like Santos’ work, this also buzzed the community to the point that some are even asking VentreCanard to either unpublish her manuscript or edit the line.

On the brighter side, VetreCanard acknowledges her mistake. She also promised that she will correct her manuscripts. The Prince Who Bit the Poisonous Apple is back to Wattpad. According to some, VentreCanard might have corrected the chapter already, thus giving a glimpse of hope that criticism still does change and corrects such ideas.

Instead of becoming a feminist or sexual satirical content or even a love story, the passages from Diary ng Hindi Malandi (Slight Lang) and The Prince Who Bit the Poisonous Apple gave a whole new level of mockery and degradation to women and of the Filipino society. Instead of giving enlightenment to women’s capabilities despite their flaws such as hygiene and finding a good partner, prevention about the idea of victim-blaming or rape, or the unmalicious decision of choosing abstinence or safe sex; they just showed how some Filipinos are still ignorant when it comes to the right way of doing satirical empowerment themes and accepting feminism or sex education as a whole.

This does not mean that the authors must take down their crafts or delete it. It is still their decision and they gave an effort to write their published works. Since VentreCanard already acknowledges the criticism that she got, it is now for Santos to whether explain his side regarding this issue that has been an open secret around several Wattpad community groups, update his manuscripts, or not take an action and let his book be a reminder of misogynism and insensitivity in our society.

Wattpad Community and How They See Societal Issues

Before the posting of Maria Jimenez’s sentiments and Kayla Togonon’s articles, Wattpad seems to have a slow-paced political awakening in its community. During the hype of the Anti-Terror Bill Protest, Gwynette Saludes, or 4reuminct, posted her updated chapter to Avenue of the Diamonds, her 4th book to the University Series, with the #JunkTerrorBill at the end of it.

Because of this, the heating battle between the Areums, Gwy’s fandom, and JSL, Jonaxx’s fandom, entered the socio-political concepts between their arguments.

It is a bold move for Gwy to add her protest sentiment to her update. She is still a Filipino citizen and has the right to speak up about our current issues, but it does not mean that she should be looked upon as a political writer, as some Aquareums — how some Wattpad fandoms call her toxic fans — just because of it.

Also, these other Wattpad fandoms do make sense since what she did can be categorized as bandwagoning of a political idea. Before the Anti-Terror Bill protests, Saludes did not call out other socio-political issues that our country’s facing today such as the red-tagging of activists and students from several universities and colleges in the Philippines (ABS-CBN News, 2018) to her University-themed series. This somehow excludes the reality that student activism in universities is still a huge part of college life even if you are apolitical. Instead of sharing a bit from it, some readers and major fandoms from Wattpad complain that her stories focus more on the cliche-typed genre such as bar-hopping, fuck buddy system, and so on. Other fandoms also accuse her of plagiarizing their favorite author’s works and being tagged as a copycat.

On the other hand, since Ms. Saludes already added her socio-political sentiment on her 4th Novel, she has a choice of whether to continue becoming vocal with it by dropping some ideas within, utilize her platform for greater and deeper themes and topics surrounding our society so other fandoms would not accuse her of becoming a copycat and plagiarist, or go back to her comfort zone of writing overrated cliche and tropes to her stories.

Meanwhile, after some Areums compared Gwy to Jonaxx on becoming more political, the JSLs defended Jonaxx by claiming that Jonaxx is not a political writer at all, so it would not make any sense if Jonaxx will come out of nowhere, expressing her political sentiments.

It is agreeable at some point, especially to the logic that Jonaxx is an apolitical author from the start, and speaking her political side will harm her readership and engagements once they find out that she is against their political ideas. The only logic that does not make any sense is how some claims that Jonaxx does not speak about politics because she is an educator and that her students and their parents would react negatively once they knew she’s becoming vocal about politics.

In 2010, three public school teachers, one a member of ACT Teachers Partylist, were all gunned down with a sole survivor in Masbate. This violence happened in just the first 10 days of the Aquino Administration (Ellao, 2010). Meanwhile, last 2019, CNN Philippines reported that a teacher activist from Bukidnon survived the horror of being gunned down by four masked men inside her classroom.

With this news, there is no way that educators are hindered from becoming political despite their professions or affiliation to the public and government service. Teachers are the ones watching the votes of the mass during suffrage, and they are also the ones marching to the street every Teachers’ Day to share their struggles and suggestions for the betterment of the education system, rights of teachers and children, and the rise of their salaries. Teachers are also known for doing a mass sit-down strike as a form of protest.

Also, with the help of Article III sections 4 and 8 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; teachers and educators, whether they are public or private employees, enjoy the right of having the freedom of speech and expression and forming unions, associations, or societies.

It is rather offensive and downgrading to teachers who are killed and harmed because of becoming vocal with their socio-political sentiment to defend Jonaxx, a colleague of theirs, to a logic that she does not share her political idea just because she is a teacher and her ideas might stir mixed reactions from her students and their parents once they knew it.

Political arguments between the Wattpad Community and Fandoms are still far from what everyone is expecting as it is to be: a more open, sensible, and fanged discussion.

Even though both parties were settled as of today, the fact that fandoms have the nerve to do such things like cursing a contemporary author’s name after knowing that she acknowledged Ms. Jimenez and Ms. Togonon’s side to their articles, even calling out their low and fallacious arguments that are mostly ad hominem attacks; the socio-political aspect and higher standard of discussion and criticism when it comes to Wattpad Books and its community is still a long way from what the Filipino Society expects it to be: critical thinking that even bandwagonism nor fanaticism could not affect with.

Capitalization of Questionable Wattpad Fiction

After these Wattpad books got huge engagement and popularity online, independent book publishers will enter the scene. Unlike the major traditional publishing book houses or even the small-time traditional book publishers, independent publishers make their own decisions. According to David Kudler, Publisher in Stillpoint Digital Press, independent publishing ensures that tastes can’t be defined solely by a small group of decision-makers whose only concern is maximizing profits.

Unfortunately, as these novels go on the rise, it is rather questionable if independent book publishing in the Philippines does go to the principle of not being defined by a small group whose concern is maximizing the profits given the enormous amount of popularity these e-books are getting. With these books dominating the sections of best-sellers and Filipino Literature sections in major bookstores of the country, it just repeats the cycle of loose gatekeeping to our literary culture even if these books are copy edited and proofread by independent publishers. Add that the original manuscripts posted in Wattpad are questionable, no amount of editing can change the flaws it gives unless these authors were the ones who will correct the wrong themes seen by literary critics and other authors in their works.

As the 21st Century moves to a new decade, critics, authors, and readers in Filipino society still have faith for change. Independent publishing houses, even the known major publishers of these books such as Viva and PSICOM, still have a decision whether to shrug these red-flags pointed out by different Filipino authors, critics, journalists, and their targeted people — the readers — to change this emerging norm in book publishing or not.

Having Faith to this Fate

With the on-going discussion and debate about how Wattpad novels form not just its readers’ minds and ideas, but also their stand to the Filipino society and current issues, there are still rooms for improvement in regards to our literature. We are still to the 20s of the 2000s, but it is not a petty reason to not reform our literature and raise the standards that the Filipino writers are writing to this day. Wattpad still has great authors and books on the platform. Some readers suggest AkoSiIbarra, OnneeChan, HaveYouSeenThisGirl, MaevelAnne, SGwannaB, and blue_maiden. Rising authors are also using the platform to share their great literary pieces. Some readers also recommend AO3 as a great writing platform for fanfictions and Inkitt as an alternative to Wattpad.

Bob Ong is still writing his novels, active on social media, and now had a book, Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan, that would be made as a movie for the Metro Manila Film Festival this year. Crime novels are still booming. Last 2013, Manila Noir, a compilation of stories of Janella Hagedorn, Lourd de Veyra, Budjette Tan, and F.H. Batacan to name a few, was successfully published. Other indie publishing houses still support writers who have the it-factors to their literary pieces as writers like Charina Enchaluce leans to self-publishing her poems and essay compilation from her Facebook Page: Minsan Okay Lang Ma-Traffic.

As history prevails, the essence of Filipino literature was to enlighten us with the values and tradition of our ancestors, the continuous fight for our rights and identity as Filipinos, and making our countrymen’s taste and standards to literary pieces higher as time goes by. Some may not enjoy the writing that our National Artists in Literature made if they were asked in class to read it, but because of the continuous reformation of ideas in the Philippine Literature, readers now have various options of what to read and platforms to write in.

It is a disappointing matter that from the objective of Filipino writers of becoming nationalistic, our literature turned to the popular theme of impulsively sadistic. Filipino youths, on the other hand, should accept that articles like this are not about gaining fame or glory of critics and journalists, or even authors, who are publishing such contents but rather, more of making them socially aware of how unacceptable these themes are lingering to the pop literature of the country. As has been said, youth should always be critical in regards to what we are reading or writing today.

Let us not abuse this freedom that we are having in this era. It is now our responsibility to choose wisely whether or not to raise this standard of 21st Century Literature today or continue to make a petty excuse and stupid explanation to the children of tomorrow once they question these literary works for their academic theses in the future.

Citations:

[1]Togonon, K. (2020, August 10). Deviance and Perversions: The Dark Side of Filipino Wattpad Novels. Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://medium.com/@howardroarkfountainheads/deviance-and-perversions-the-dark-side-of-filipino-wattpad-novels-d3fe7bab8be7

[2]Scott, W. H. (1992, January 01). Looking For The Prehispanic Filipino : William Henry Scott : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming. Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://archive.org/details/LookingForThePrehispanicFilipino/page/n59/mode/2up

[3]Ocampo, A. (2013, January 16). First book(s). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://opinion.inquirer.net/44941/first-books

[4]English translation in Edwin Wolf (1947), Doctrina Christiana: the first book published in the Philippines, Manila 1593, Washington DC, USA, as quoted in National Historical Institute (1991) p.v

[5]Alcantara, F. (2011, October 27). JOSE GARCIA VILLA. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://my1stblogjd.blogspot.com/2011/10/second-literary-groups.html

[6]San Juan, E., Jr. (2014, February 4). On Lualhati Bautista’s DESAPARECIDOS, Andres Bonifacio, & the Politics of Time. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.academia.edu/5903341/On_Lualhati_Bautistas_DESAPARECIDOS_Andres_Bonifacio_and_the_Politics_of_Time?auto=download

[7]Hidalgo (2006), p. 79.

[8]Critelli, J. W., & Bivona, J. M. (2008). Women’s Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and Research. Journal of Sex Research, 45(1), 57–70. doi:10.1080/00224490701808191

[9]Philippines Rape rate, 2003–2019. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://knoema.com/atlas/Philippines/Rape-rate

[10]Chiu, A. (2018, May 16). Anne Frank’s hidden diary pages: Risque jokes and sex education. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/16/anne-franks-hidden-diary-pages-risque-jokes-and-sex-education/

[11]ABS-CBN News (2018, October 04). Metro Manila universities slam military ‘red-tagging’. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/04/18/metro-manila-universities-slam-military-red-tagging

[12] Ellao, J. (2010, July 24). Two Public School Teachers Killed, Another Survives Attack in Masbate. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.bulatlat.com/2010/07/12/two-public-school-teachers-killed-another-survives-attack-in-masbate/

[13] CNN Philippines (2019, October 16). Activist teacher shot in classroom in Bukidnon. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2019/10/16/activist-teacher-shot-bukidnon.html

[14] THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES — ARTICLE III: GOVPH. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-article-iii/

[15] Kudler, D. (2014, March 25). What is an Independent Publisher? Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-is-an-independent-pu_b_4656448?fbclid=IwAR300Bg05i7zsKhjlUqRcP4zjQOjFisj6f2dKyU4KxyO4DTONrLOzLKXPZQ