This study examined the effectiveness of PQ4R (Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, Review) strategy to enhance the comprehension and retention of literary texts of the Filipino learners. This investigation aims to solve the issue within reading comprehension and retention of Filipino learners particularly the Grade 11 at Gov. Anacleto C. Alcala National High School who are discovered to be the lowest performing in reading comprehension based on Phil-IRI results. With the aim of developing and validating the PQ4R Reading Strategy as instructional material to be used in the teaching of 21 century literature. “Experimental-Developmental” as research design guided by the ADDIE Model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation), sought to develop and validate. This study assessed the effectiveness of the use of the “PQ4R”: (Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite and Review) strategy. Results indicated the pre-test to have a high “Comprehension gap” of almost half of the participants at “Frustration” level, they could recognize words but have problems grasping meaning. Results from post-test indicated higher scores with a mean comprehension scores’ increase of 3.51-6.32 while the retention mean at baseline from 2.95 provided significant improvement as they were able to achieve higher bracket performances percentiles. “Expert validators rated the Developed guidebook as "Very Satisfactory" on the content, Format and accuracy. It is also the conclusion of the study that reading becomes active when it is transformed into a metacognitive activity subsumed by abbreviated PQ4R strategy making the strategy to be one of the most reliable in upholding the academic performance of the Filipino in the secondary education curriculum.