Filipino Literature for Beginners

I was at a reading last night. A Singaporean writer told me that in her masters degree course work, she had read F. Sionil Jose and NVM Gonzalez--collections of their short stories. I told her to read Estrella Alfon also and anthologies of short stories. (This woman writes fiction.) What would you recommend for beginning readers of Filipino Literature? I suppose we'd have to start with writing in English.

another "must" in the reading list for Phil. Lit in English is works by Bienvenido Santos and Nick Joaquin.

For a more current list, maybe Jose Dalisay, Krip Yuson, Jing Hidalgo and Charlson Ong?

I think it's great to have a copy of the Likhaan Anthology of Philippine Literature from the 1900 to present (I'm not sure with the title). I don't think they sell that in the more popular bookstores, but you can always try the University Bookstore here in UP Diliman.

superemang and janis_mae, thanks for your replies. Um, I forgot to give background to my original post. The Singaporean writer had taken her MFA in the US. So for her to have read Filipino literature for a masteral degree in creative writing in a foreign university...hey, our own literature is starting to come into its own light!

superemang, I think Charlson Ong is a good place to start especially for Chinoy literature. His short stories are pretty powerful. And janis, yes, from the one copy I have of the Likhaan Anthology (1995, purchased for P300 back in those days) offers a wide range of authors, including "Train Ride," a jewel of a poem by Jim Pascual Agustin.