We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more, please click this link.
On my recent trip to Cebu, I visited the old jail converted into Museo Sugbo. Former prison cells now contain an informative exhibit on the history of the province from prehistoric times to the present. Local history,…
In the three decades I have been researching the heroes and heroines that figure in the birth of the Filipino nation, it has been both a pleasure and a challenge to meet their descendants. From them, I…
Every year on June 24, Araw ng Maynila, I reflect on two things: first, the foundation of Spanish Manila; second, why is it that when we talk of Maynila or Manila today, it is always in the…
The way Araling Panlipunan is taught, with an emphasis on civics rather than history, students are led to believe that every waking moment in the lives of our heroes and patriots was devoted to the love of…
“Time will tell,” wrote Rizal, “if I am dreaming or I see too far.” I copied that into my notebook years ago. Without the citation, I can’t go back to the original source and find out its…
Filipinos love to play with words. We effortlessly form puns or terms with double or conflicting meanings for a laugh, often unmindful of the power of words to communicate, conceal, or confuse. Take propaganda. Textbook history taught…
Dead men tell no tales is a phrase older than the title of a 2017 film in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. The phrase has been tracked down to the 13th-century Persian poet Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn…
Whenever I reflect on the sorry state of the country, I always remember the time my father cut me off from whining by declaring: “You don’t know what you are talking about. You think your life is…
The late Aquilino Pimentel Jr. once related how he accompanied a group of Mindanao warlords to Malacañang for a symbolic surrender to the government through then President Corazon Aquino. When media was called in for the photo-op,…
Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) provided a welcome respite from election issues by focusing our attention on the sorry state of Philippine history in our K-to-12 curriculum. Housemates failed big time in a history quiz that viewers saw…
Zoilo Galang’s “Encyclopedia of the Philippines” first appeared in 1936. A second edition of 20 volumes, using the material that survived World War II, appeared in 1958. Galang’s, like all print encyclopedias, was obsolete as soon as…
April 12, 1895 is a date found in the dustbin of history. It is not familiar to many Filipinos as: June 12 (1898), Independence Day; Nov. 30 (1863), Andres Bonifacio’s birthday; or Dec. 30 (1896), Jose Rizal’s…
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more, please click this link.