Author | Amado V. Hernandez |
---|---|
Language | Tagalog |
Genre | Fiction |
Publication place | Philippines |
Mga Ibong Mandaragit or Mga Ibong Mandaragit: Nobelang Sosyo-Politikal (literally, Birds of Prey: A Socio-Political Novel) is a novel written by the Filipino writer and social activist, Amado V. Hernandez in 1969. Mga Ibong Mandaragit, hailed as Hernandez's masterpiece, focuses on the neocolonial dependency and revolt in the Philippines. [1] The novel reflects Hernandez's experience as a guerrilla intelligence officer when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. [1]
The narrative, illustrates Hernandez's yearning for change and the elevation of the status of Philippine society and living conditions of Filipinos. The setting is in the middle of 1944, when the armed forces of the Japanese Empire were losing. [2]
The novel acts as a sequel to Jose Rizal's historic Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo . The protagonist Mando Plaridel is tested by Tata Matyas, an old revolutionary, on his knowledge about Rizal and Rizal's novels. Similar to Rizal's novel, the main character examines the Philippines as an outsider while traveling in Europe. [3] Hernandez's novel also tackles the lead character's search for Simoun's treasure, acting as a continuation of Rizal's El Filibusterismo . The novel portrays the conditions of the citizenry at the onset of industrialization brought forth by the Americans in the Philippines. Mga Ibong Mandaragit had been translated into English and Russian. [2] [4]
Carlos P. Romulo wrote the preface for this book, while Epifanio San Juan Jr. wrote its afterword of the book in Tagalog and English. The Tagalog version came first which was immediately followed by the English translation titled Epilogue (Epilogo). According to Romulo, the novel narrates "and discusses the problems of the citizens, of the life of the people and society and their environment". The book has 69 chapters and 416 pages.
Mando “Andoy” Plaridel is the main character in this novel. His real name is Alejandro Pamintuan. But when he joined the guerrilla movement he used the name Mando. Mando became a guerrilla when he was betrayed to the Japanese by his boss, Don Segundo Montero, a rich landowner, merchant and collaborator who lived along Manila Bay. Andoy used to be schooled by Don Segundo.
As a wealthy landowner obsessed with maintaining social status, Don Segundo Montero made an agreement with the new Japanese conquerors. He used his finances, possessions, relatives and staff. Even his daughter Dolly used her essence as a woman and the open "love" in association with the Japanese, and later, with the American officials as well.
Don Segundo Montero reiterated his ability to make friends with the Americans after they defeated the Japanese in their return to the Philippines.
The novel begins in September 1944, when the weakening of the forces of the Japanese Empire in the Philippines can be felt. The activities of the Filipino guerillas are getting stronger and are helped by the Filipino soldiers from the Commonwealth of the Philippines Army in Luzon. These are happening even though the promised return of American troops, promised by Franklin Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur, has not yet come.
The first chapter begins with the sun setting in the forest. Mando Plaridel - and his two other companions - reach the hut of Tata Matyas in the Sierra Madre mountain range. Tata Matyas is a former revolutionary who fought against the Spaniards and Americans. Mando's companions are Karyo and Martin, who were also fellow guerrillas. They are fleeing from a failed struggle against Japanese soldiers who attacked their camp in Sampitan. It was about three or four months ago when Mando last visited Tata Matyas' residence. During Mando's last visit to Tata Matyas, they were able to exchange issues regarding their own problems, and even about their beginnings in the movement. They also discussed Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo, especially the consequences of Simoun's wealth (the main character in El Filibusterismo) after Padre Florentino (another character in El Filibusterismo). According to Tata Matyas, Simoun's wealth could have been used to supply the needs of the guerrillas. Tata Matyas believes that the characters in the novels of the hero Jose Rizal are real, because his family knows the real "Padre Florentino". If he was still young like Mando, he would search the sea to find Simoun's missing iron. Tata Matyas also believed that all heroes – aside from Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Apolinario Mabini – should be role models for the Filipino people.
Mando finds Simoun's treasure - from the ocean near Atimonan - with the help of a map provided by Tata Matyas. But, despite this good fortune, Karyo and Martin die. Karyo is attacked by a shark, while Martin – wanting to claim the discovered wealth for himself – dies at Mando's fists.
After the war, peace returns, but so does the old ways of the rich and landed. That is why the social subject presented to the government, the asenderos and the merchants of the associations of farmers in the fields and the workers in the city do not disappear.
Mando emigrates to sell the riches, but not before founding a newspaper, Kampilan. Due to his departure from the Philippines, he entrusts the running of the paper to Magat, who is also a former guerrilla. The printing press is run with the help of other former guerrillas, such as Tata Matyas, Andres, Rubio, and Dr. Sabio. Dr. Sabio, a former teacher, promises Mando to disseminate the things taught at the Freedom University (University of Freedom), which was also established by Mando, for the benefit of the youth. The latter was also one of Mando's instructions, before traveling to Europe and the United States.
Noli Me Tángere is a novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal and was published during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It explores inequities in law and practice in terms of the treatment by the ruling government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples in the late-19th century.
Philippine literature is literature associated with the Philippines from prehistory, through its colonial legacies, and on to the present.
El Filibusterismo, also known by its alternative English title The Reign of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli Me Tángere and, like the first book, was written in Spanish. It was first published in 1891 in Ghent.
Rizal Day is a Philippine national holiday commemorating life and works of José Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines. It is celebrated every December 30, the anniversary of Rizal's 1896 execution at Bagumbayan in Manila.
Eric Villanueva dela Cruz is a Filipino theater actor. He played Oedipus alongside Gigette Reyes in the 2004 production of Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex and has appeared in TV shows and films.
Amado Vera Hernandez, was a Filipino writer and labor leader who was known for his criticism of social injustices in the Philippines and was later imprisoned for his involvement in the communist movement. He was the central figure in a landmark legal case that took 13 years to settle.
The Obando Fertility Rites are a dance ritual, Anitist in origin, that later became a Catholic festival celebrated every May in Obando, Bulacan, Philippines. Locals and pilgrims, sometimes dressed in traditional costume, dance and sing in the town's streets to honour and beseech Obando's three patron saints: San Pascual, Santa Clara and Nuestra Señora de Salambáo.
Cirilo F. Bautista was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction. A National Artist of the Philippines award was conferred on him in 2014.
Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal, also known as Don Pañong or Don Panyong, was a notable Filipino historian, journalist, and civil servant. He was regarded as one of the best Filipino writers and a literary genius. He also entered politics, serving as a member of the Malolos Congress from 1898 to 1899 from Nueva Ecija and later as governor of Nueva Ecija from 1902 to 1906. As a lawyer, he was named as the district attorney of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija in 1900 and later as fiscal of the provinces of Bulacan and Bataan. He was named as an assistant technical director of the Philippine Census in 1918. He was appointed Director of the Philippine Library and Museum by Governor General Leonard Wood in 1925, serving until his death in 1928.
Virgilio Senadren Almario, better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly served as the chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the government agency mandated to promote and standardize the use of the Filipino language. On January 5, 2017, Almario was also elected as the chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Rosario Violeta Hernández Solís, professionally known as Charito Solís, was a Filipino film actress.
Enrique Gayoso Magalona Jr., popularly known as Pancho Magalona, was a Filipino actor from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Makamisa is an unfinished novel written by Filipino patriot and writer José Rizal. The original manuscript was found by historian Ambeth Ocampo in 1987 while going through a 245-page collection of papers. This draft is written in pure, vernacular Lagueño Tagalog and has no written direct signature or date of inscription.
"Sa Aking Mga Kabatà" is a poem about the love of one's native language written in Tagalog. It is widely attributed to the Filipino national hero José Rizal, who supposedly wrote it in 1868 at the age of eight. There is not enough evidence, however, to support authorship by Rizal and several historians now believe it to be a hoax.
Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán, commonly known as Marcelo H. del Pilar and also known by his nom de plumePláridel, was a Filipino writer, lawyer, journalist, and freemason. Del Pilar, along with José Rizal and Graciano López Jaena, became known as the leaders of the Reform Movement in Spain.
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered a national hero of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.
María Clara de los Santos is a fictional character in José Rizal's novel Noli Me Tángere (1887). The beautiful María Clara is the childhood sweetheart and fiancée of the protagonist, Crisóstomo Ibarra, who returns to his Filipino hometown of San Diego to marry her. After Ibarra is implicated in a fake revolution and is thought to be dead, María Clara opts to become a nun rather than marry another man. She remains unhappy for the rest of her life and her death is later mentioned in the sequel, El filibusterismo (1891).
Patricio Mariano y Geronimo, son of son of Petronilo Mariano and Dionisia Geronimo., was a Filipino nationalist, revolutionary, pundit, poet, playwright, dramatist, short story writer, novelist, journalist, violinist, painter, and a Katipunan member.
This is the timeline of the Philippine Revolution—the uprising that gave birth to Asia's first republic. The roots of the revolution trace back to the Cavite mutiny and subsequent execution of Gomburza in 1872, and ended with the declaration of independence from Spain in 1898.
Maria Clara at Ibarra is a Philippine television drama fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. The series is based on the novels Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo by José Rizal. Directed by Zig Dulay, it stars Barbie Forteza, Julie Anne San Jose and Dennis Trillo. It follows Klay Infantes, a Gen-Z nursing student who gets transported into the setting of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Hernandez, Amado V. Mga Ibong Mandaragit: Nobelang Sosyo-Politikal (1969), PDF copy from AseanInfoNet.org, Tagalog language, National Library, Filipiniana section (call number FIL 899.2113 H43i 1982), and International Graphic Service, Quezon City, 416 pages (book)/216 pages (PDF file) – complete novel: PDF copy, retrieved on: March 5, 2008 SA