LOOKING BACK WITH AMBETH R. OCAMPO

A multi-awarded Filipino historian, academic, journalist and author best known for his writings about the Philippines' national hero José Rizal, and for his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "Looking Back." He became the chair of the Philippines' National Historical Institute in 2002 and of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 2005-2007. He represented the Philippines during the 4th Philippines-Mexico Joint Commission Meeting on Cultural and Educational Cooperation in 2007, held in Mexico, in his capacity as Chairman of NCCA.



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As an academe, Ocampo is currently the Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of History, School of Social Sciences at the Ateneo de Manila University and Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines - Diliman. 

Mr. Ambeth R. Ocampo came out with a compilation volume of essays intended for the Lifestyle section of the Philippine Daily Globe in the late 1980‘s, which were compiled, thus the birth of the first edition of 'Looking Back‘. It remained unchanged in form and content since 1990. For almost two decades in print, he decided to reissue and update it in a new format with additional essays. 


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Many ideas come to mind when one thinks of the phrase 'LOOKING BACK‘. But one thing for sure, one can definitely associate this with something of the past and is connected to one‘s story, to his story.

"Looking Back" has been presented in a manner that the narration of well-known figures in the Philippine history makes one look at it in a different light, beyond the dates, events and treats it even more than a classroom subject, like telling an engaging story complete with gossips. History is our link to the past and how things came about. Whether we like it or not, it is part of our own being, our life, our story.

What follows below will enable us to know more about Ambeth R. Ocampo‘s perspective on history:

In a society that is so fast-paced, with people hardly having time to be in the moment, how can you teach history?

Whenever people tell me that history is boring or irrelevant I reply that they did not have me as their teacher! History is never boring. History is never irrelevant. If you think otherwise, you had a bad history teacher. Contrary to popular belief there is a growing interest in history and the past in this fast-paced world. Cable networks that carry Discovery or National Geographic channels have a lot of history in them. We even have a History Channel in some networks. There is a demand for historical films and books both fiction and non-fiction and I think this comes from the way history has been re-presented.
"History changes, depending on material unearthed from archives here and abroad. There is more to this episode than meets the eye, so when all the documents are found, we may one day have the complete picture of how Leopold of Belgium almost bought for himself the Philippine archipelago." Excerpts from the essay "King of Belgium failed to Buy the Philippines".

You have mentioned in your book “Looking Back” that your perception about history changed when you met the late Teodoro A. Agoncillo, E. Aguilar Cruz and Doreen G. Fernandez, “that they showed me that history could be timely and engaging as the tabloids and gossip columns.” Can you elaborate on this? Did this cultivate your interest to write the book?


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I started my career writing historical articles for the defunct Philippines Daily Express during the tail-end of the Marcos years. Censorship made it possible for me to write history that the editors thought to be safe and non-political. I wrote in a conversational almost gossipy way that seemed new at the time because history and historians then were almost all boring and academic. Later I was to discover that I could comment on the present using the past and this double-meaning gave relevance to my work. It was difficult for me in the beginning because constipated academics did not look kindly on popularization of history. 

They demand footnotes and a lofty style that could not be accommodated in newspapers and magazines. Fortunately, there were others before me who showed that history could be presented in a non-academic way.

These role models were: Nick Joaquin, Teodoro Agoncillo, Doreen Fernandez, E. Aguilar Cruz, and Carmen Guerrero Nakpil who encouraged me by saying, ―don‘t mind the academics, nobody reads them.

Do you think that the way history is being taught in schools has been changed, improved throughout the years?

There is a lot of work needed to improve the way history is taught in Philippine Schools today. First the socalled competencies have to be revised, then the textbooks have to be updated to make them, at least, factually correct. Then teachers have to be given the readings and other tools to improve their classroom teaching. The internet is a wonderful source of information but one has to be critical when using this.


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“...military historian John R.M. Taylor put some order into a maze of historical documents called the Philippine Insurgents Records (PIR). On the cover of a small letter holder, he wrote “withdrawn from PA, 84 drafts of love letters of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar – no interest here. JRM Taylor”. What was of little interest to him is very interesting for Filipinos.” Excerpts from the essay “Gregorio del Pilar was a Playboy”.
What is the importance of history for the present Mexican-Philippine relations?

Textbook history tends to overemphasize the Spanish colonial period and in so doing glosses over our long connection with Mexico. The Galleon Trade was not just an economic factor in Philippine life but it affected Filipinos in many other ways. Many fruits and vegetables that came from Mexico are believed to be Philippine. Mexico is in our language, our food, our culture and it is important to remind Filipinos about it today.

In your “Looking Back” most of your data were gathered thru documents, archives and interviews, how do you foresee a historian writing history in a world dominated by cyberspace?

As I mentioned earlier, the internet is a wonderful source of information. One can access materials in the U.S. Library of Congress, for example, in Manila. This was something impossible 20 years ago. It is unfortunate that our National Library and Museum was destroyed during the Battle for Manila in 1945 thus a Filipino historian needs to go abroad to find historical material. Worse, we are separated from our history, our past because of language thus few scholars go to Spain for archival research, even less go to Mexico where a lot of our shared history lies.


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“The etymology of Filipino curse words is a fascinating area unexplored by our linguists and lexicographers. If they take it up we may yet see the day international Spanish dictionaries will carry the Filipino meaning of Spanish words.” Excerpts from the essay “Filipino Cuss words”.


I write in cyberspace, my bi-weekly Inquirer column is available on the internet and I have recently taken administration of the Ambeth R. Ocampo Fan Page that makes my research accessible to a new audience.

Thank you for granting us this interview, indeed it was a pleasure. How we wish to be in your history class.

“Looking Back” published and exclusively distributed by ANVIL PUBLISHING,INC. The book is available at booksellers nationwide.