Lucila V. Hosillos, one of the Philippines' foremost comparative literature scholars, examines Magdalena Jalandoni's Juanita Cruz as a constituent of Filipino national literature — arguing for the place of Hiligaynon vernacular writing within a canon that has historically centered English and Filipino. Published alongside the original Hiligaynon text and its English translation, this critical study addresses how regional language literature participates in the larger project of defining Philippine cultural identity.