A Bonifacio pilgrimage

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 05/10/2023

Had Andres Bonifacio died of old age or natural causes on May 10, 1897, the date would not be controversial. However, May 10, 1897, reminds us of the split within the leadership of the Philippine revolution that…

Traffic then as now

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 05/05/2023

The past, I was taught in graduate school, is a foreign country. Things are supposed to be different then, but my recent reading of prewar Filipiniana at the University of Michigan shows that the past is not…

History from obsolete sources

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 04/28/2023

The phone rang in my uncle’s living room one day, and we heard the househelp answer politely, “Good morning po.” The person on the other end wanted my uncle on the line, “maari po ba makausap si…

An elephant from 1700s PH in Madrid

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 04/26/2023

On my next trip to Madrid, I will not be in search of Jose Rizal or Juan Luna. I will be following the trail of an 18th-century elephant in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. How could…

Living in sin?

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 04/21/2023

Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken living outside of marriage surely kept the “Maritess” of their time busy and wide awake in the sleepy town of Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte. After all, Rizal and Josephine were, in the…

Spanish: Our lost official language

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 04/19/2023

The Philippines is a young nation with an old history, and it is unfortunate that language separates young Filipinos from 333 years of their past. When the 1987 Constitution named Filipino and English as official languages of…

King of the road in 1932: The ‘cochero’

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 03/31/2023

Gadget Addict is one of my favorite online reality shows, even if it irritates me. Getting violators to hand over their license is harder than pulling teeth. Everyone has an excuse. Motorcycle riders caught wearing slippers or…

Traces of Philippine history in SFO

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 03/22/2023

San Francisco, California—On the way from the San Francisco International Airport to Berkeley last weekend, I remembered “The Streets of San Francisco,” a US TV series from my childhood. Street signs in this part of the world…

Women in Philippine history

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 03/10/2023

When my social media channels got flooded with posts on International Women’s Day, I wondered, what about International Men’s Day? As I looked around for a suitable topic on women in Philippine history, I realized I had…

US situation reports on Edsa 1986

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 02/24/2023

Some years ago, colleagues, who had been at Edsa in 1986 and experienced people power firsthand, complained that their students did not seem to know or care about it. I advised them to mind their age and…

MacArthur in love

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 02/22/2023

Douglas MacArthur may have been one of the most famous generals in military history, but when he fell in love, he turned to mush. We know that MacArthur married twice: First, to Louise Cromwell in 1922, and…

Gomburza and Rizal’s execution

Ambeth R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet 02/17/2023

Every year on Feb. 17, a floral offering is made at the white obelisk in Rizal Park that is ignored the rest of the year. The spot marked by the obelisk, between the Rizal Monument and the…

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