THE ARTS

PREHISTORIC WRITING  
     Upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, most of the people were already capable of reading and writing. Wrote Pedro Chirino in 1602, "...there is scarcely anybody who cannot read and write in letters proper to the island of Manila."
     Where the ancient way of writing in the Philippines came from is still a bone of contention. However, the fact that the people who inhabited areas near rivers and coasts were the most literate indicates that, in the beginning, script was utilized to note down transactions because these places were significant trading centers. It was only after some time that writing was used to note down literature.
     Today there are three artifacts that are evidence of early Filipino writing - the silver paleograph found in Butuan, the earthenware pot from Calatagan, Batangas and the most significant of all, the copper plate from Laguna de Bay dated 900 A.D.
     After studying the few samples on early script, Robert Fox concludes that there are at least 16 kinds of syllabary writing utilized by various groups of people. The alphabet was composed of three vowel syllable-signs: A, EI, and OU; and 14 consonants: B, D, G, H, K, L, M, N, NG, P, S, T, W, and Y.
     At present there are two indigenous communities that still use syllabic script. These are the Mangyan in Mindoro and the Tagbanua in Palawan. This mode of writing is said to be Indic-derived and originated from southern Indonesia.

PRECOLONIAL LITERATURE

    As expressed in their native literature, Filipino culture at the time of discovery was high. Native literature started as a manifestation of the people's love to their deities, anitos, spirits, gods and goddesses. It consisted of songs (awits or dalits), maxims or sabi, riddles or bugtong, prayers, proverbs or sawikain, and of "a kind of face representing and criticizing local customs (examples are duplo and karagatan in which riddles or bugtong play a considerable role)." According to early historians, there were no less than twenty kinds of songs. In prose, they had fables and drolls. The native plays were invariably associated with music. The players danced and sang to the accompaniment of the string instruments called codyapi, bangsi and colelong. The music and the dance were executed not only as a form of amusement but as a serious occupation.
    Unfortunately, the materials that came down to us on the native literature were very scarce. Whatever materials that were passed on were preserved through oral tradition, while the others were recorded by the early missionary chroniclers.

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