| Mga Ibong Mandaragit | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Amado V. Hernandez |
| Country | Philippines |
| Language | Tagalog |
| Genre(s) | Fiction |
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 was described as Hernandez's masterpiece about the neocolonial dependency and revolt in the Philippines.[1] Also reflected in Mga Ibong Mandaragit was Hernandez's experience of being a guerrilla intelligence officer when the Philippines was under the Japanese occupiers from 1942 to 1945.[1]
Through the narrative, Hernandez yearned for change and the elevation of the status of Philippine society. The book narrated the living conditions and livelihood of the Filipino people. Upon the arrival of the middle of 1944 in the Philippines, the armed forces of the Japanese Empire was already weakening. The Japanese would soon be losing in the Second World War in Asia.[2]
The novel had a connection with Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo. There was a part in the novel wherein the protagonist Mando Plaridel was tested by Tata Matyas, an old revolutionary, on his knowledge about Rizal and Rizal's novels. The pattern of Hernandez's Mga Ibong Mandaragit also had a similarity to Rizal's novel, wherein the main character looked at the Philippines from the outside by traveling to Europe then coming back.[3] Hernandez's novel also tackled the lead character's search for Simoun's treasure, showing it as a continuation of Rizal's El Filibusterismo. It further tackled the state of the citizenry upon the onset of industrialization brought forth by the Americans in the Philippines. Mga Ibong Mandaragit had been translated into English and Russian.[2]