Times had changed radically after the Filipino-American War so theater discarded the “moro-moro” and “comedia” in response to the nationalistic imperatives of the Philippine Revolution and the First Republic.

Playwright Juan Abad (1872-1932), a native of Sampalok, forged the dynamic “La Juventud Filipina” with contemporaries Honorio Lopez and Manuel Sequera, comrades, so to speak, who had also perceived that the Americans did not come as friends but as new colonial masters.

Sequera had written “Mabuhay ang Filipinas” and “Mapanglaw ang Pagka-alaala,” presented respectively, at the Teatro Nacional in May 1900 and Teatro Universidad in September. To Americans like Anthony S.

Riggs, (Manila resident, 1902-05) plays like those were, “...The smoldering embers of a widespread and dangerous insurrection...not entirely extinguished... throughout the Islands... [that] still required the use of the armed forces of the Government for their Abad and Honorio Lopez had previously written for rabidly anti-American papers like “Ang Kapatid ng Bayan,” “Laong-Laan” and “Dimas-alang” and that none of the three had sworn allegiance to the United States of America.

As expected, they were summarily arrested and exiled to Olongapo. Undaunted by that bitter experience, Juan Abad wrote “Manila-Olongapo” a zarzuela in three acts presented at the Teatro Zorilla in June 1901; he continued writing seditious plays like “Bulaklak ng Sampalok” which won a literary contest and “Ang Tanikalang Guinto” that added notoriety to his fame. This was presented at the Teatro Libertad in 1903 and in many other theaters in Laguna and Cavite. Tempting Fate, Abad brought “Tanikala” to Batangas, Batangas, in May 1903, defying the Anti-Sedition Act (passed on Nov. 4 1901) which criminalized advocacy of Philippine Independence in any form. He was arrested and indicted in the court of first instance of said province. Judge Paul W. Linebarger sentenced him to two years in prison and fined him $2,000.

With the help of friends, J. Abad posted bail and while the case was still pending he wrote “Isang Punlo ng Kaaway,” presented on May 8, 1904 at the Teatro Rizal in Malabon. The intrepid J. Abad was once again arrested and jailed. Unexpectedly, Justice Charles A. Willard of the Supreme Court reversed the decision in August 1906. A year later, Abad published his renowned “Ang Tanikalang Guinto” and fearlessly went around the countryside with his “compañia volante” (literally, flying troupe).

Abad and his contemporaries kept the revolutionary flames burning through zarzuelas and dramas where national symbols were flashed on stage and anti-American national aspirations were expressed in allegories. Those audacious Filipino playwrights were always arrested for sedition and in many instances even their audience and stage hands were all herded to prison. Seditious drama was a form of guerrilla warfare that expressed not only the desire for Independence but conveyed the vital message that we Filipinos were already a nation.(To be continued)(gemma601@yahoo.com)