Ambeth Ocampo

Ambeth R. Ocampo (born in Manila, 1961) is a Filipino historian best known for his writings about Philippines' national hero José Rizal and for Looking Back, his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He served as the Chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (2002-2011) and concurrently Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in (2005-2007).

Ocampo was born in Manila in 1961. He received his primary and secondary education at the Ateneo de Manila University. He subsequently attained his undergraduate and masteral degrees in Philippine Studies from the De La Salle University in 1989 and 1991. He took graduate courses in the University of the Philippines Diliman and later read for a doctorate in Southeast Asian History at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

He abandoned his London postgraduate studies in 1993, when he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, Manila taking the monastic name Dom. Ignacio Maria, OSB. He subsequently left the monastery in 1997.

Writings

Looking Back column

Ocampo began writing for Weekend Magazine, the Sunday supplement of the Philippine Daily Express in 1985 and subsequently joined its editorial staff as Associate Editor. His column Looking Back first appeared in the Philippine Daily Globe from 1987 to 1990 and compilations of these columns saw new life as his two bestselling books, namely, the Looking Back series and Rizal Without the Overcoat that was awarded the National Book Award for essay in 1990. At the invitation of Letty Jimenez Magsanoc and Eugenia D. Apostol, Ocampo's Daily Globe column moved to the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1990, where it appears twice weekly in the Opinion-Editorial page.

Since 1986, Ocampo has published over 39 books, as well as other publications, compilations of his essays and writings on Philippine history, arts and culture. Most of his published works focus on the life and works of the Philippine nationalist and martyr, Jose Rizal with Rizal Without the Overcoat going into six editions since its first publication in 1990. He has published monographs on other historical and cultural figures: the writer-artist Emilio Aguilar Cruz, musical composer Nicanor Abelardo, historian Teodoro Agoncillo and Teodora Alonso, the mother of Rizal, among others.

Ocampo also writes on the foreign relations of the Philippines with France and Japan. He has written numerous articles on the diaries of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and was at work on a biography of former Philippine President Fidel Ramos.

When Ocampo was appointed Chairman of the National Historical Institute (present-day National Historical Commission of the Philippines) and later elected chair of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared that she was an ardent reader of his newspaper column, commending his writings because he "makes history so approachable." Some academics have critiqued Ocampo for his populist approach towards historiography.In response, Ocampo has since released two compilations of his public lectures Meaning and History focused on Jose Rizal and Bones of Contention on Andres Bonifacio both published in 2001 with the required bibliographic references and footnotes. Nevertheless, Ocampo is considered as one of the most prominent Philippine historians.

Art historian and curator

Ocampo has also written several essays and monographs on Philippine art beginning with his first book on Philippine modern impressionist painter Emilio Aguilar Cruz titled The Paintings of E. Aguilar Cruz published in 1986. In 2019, a new version of the said book was revised and expanded and published as E. Aguilar Cruz: The Writer as Painter. Since then, Ocampo has worked as an independent art curator and has curated several landmark artist retrospectives and exhibitions on Philippine visual artists including: Juan Luna, Fernando Amorsolo, Guillermo Tolentino, Romulo Galicano, Arturo Luz, Benedicto Cabrera and Elmer Borlongan. He has also co-written two publications on the biography and art of several contemporary artists including the art of Spanish-Philippine artist Fernando Zóbel and visual artist and fashion designer Mark Lewis Lim Higgins.

Presently, Ocampo also sits on the advisory boards of the Ateneo Art Gallery, the Ayala Museum, the BenCab Museum, the Lopez Museum and the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation.

Since 2011, Ocampo has delivered public lectures on Philippine history primarily at the Ayala Museum known as History Comes Alive series to sold-out crowds.

Cultural administrator

From 1987 until 1992, Ocampo served as a consultant to the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) with a concurrent capacity as member of the National Committee on Libraries and Information (NCLI) and the National Committee on Monuments and Sites (NCOM) under the Presidential Commission on Culture and the Arts (the present-day National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)). During his term at the National Library, he recovered the unpublished manuscripts of Rizal's unfinished novel Makamisa in 1987 and later worked on the bibliographic catalog of papers, writings and documents related to Rizal held in the vault of the National Library.

In 1999, Ocampo was appointed board member of the National Historical Institute by then-President Joseph Estrada and in 2002, he was appointed Chairman by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. As NHI Chair, Ocampo served as a board member in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and was elected as its Chairman serving from 2005 to 2007 during which time he signed, for the Republic of the Philippines, Cultural Agreements and Executive Programs on Culture and Heritage with France, Mexico, Pakistan, the People's Republic of China, and North Korea.

During his term as Chairman of the National Historical Institute, Ocampo weathered criticism over attempts to enforce provisions of the existing Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines by reminding artists singing the Philippine national anthem during international boxing matches of the proper way to sing the anthem, and his controversial decision to paint the Rizal clan house green - to remind Filipinos that the word "rizal" came from "ricial" meaning a green field ready for harvest.

Member of the Numismatic Committee

From 2002 until 2011, Ocampo sat on the Numismatic Committee of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which deliberated on proposals to redesign Philippine currency, primarily on banknotes. In 2010, the Bangko Sentral issued the New Generation Currency Series which completely redesigned Philippine banknotes including the change on the five hundred peso banknote which featured the portraits of Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. and his wife, the late President Corazon Aquino.

Ocampo is an Associate Professor and former Chairman of the Department of History, School of Social Sciences in the Ateneo de Manila University. He previously served as a professorial lecturer in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature of the College of Arts and Letters in the University of the Philippines Diliman from 1989 until 2010 and served on the Board of Regents of the Universidad de Manila (formerly City College of Manila), where he served as its President and Vice-President for Academic Affairs from 1996 to 1998. He has also held previous appointments at the De La Salle University, Far Eastern University and San Beda College.

He has held appointments as Visiting Research Fellow in Kyoto University, and Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He was Visiting Professor in Sophia University, Tokyo where he taught courses on Philippine history and culture from 2012 to 2014 he remains a Visiting Research Fellow at the Sophia University Institute of Asian Studies.

His personal and official papers, notes and correspondence are deposited in the University of the Philippines Archives in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.

A collector of Filipiniana including books, art, numismatics and other paper ephemera, his extensive library and collection is divided between his home in Makati City; Holy Angel University, Angeles, Pampanga; and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies Library in Kyoto University.

A major part of his art collection has been bequeathed to the Ateneo de Manila University that recently inaugurated the Ambeth R. Ocampo Gallery on the third floor of the Ateneo Art Gallery in its arts and innovation wing, the Areté.

Ocampo has won three National Book Awards in these categories: Essay, Literary History, and Bibliography. He also won a Premio Manuel Bernabe awarded by the then Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Espana en Filipinas and a Premio Quijano de Manila from the Instituto Cervantes Manila. He was elected National Fellow for Essay by the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center (1995–1996).

He has been conferred the rank of Knight Grand Officier (K.G.O.R.) of the Order of the Knights of Rizal in December 2018, and Order of Civil Merit with the rank of Encomienda (Commander) conferred by the Kingdom of Spain in December 2007.

In June 2008, he was conferred the rank of Officier in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the Republic of France for his contributions to the arts and letters as: writer, academic, cultural administrator, and for his support of cultural exchanges between the Philippines and France.

In recognition of his work in cultural administration and his contributions to Philippine history, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Public Administration, honoris causa, in December 2008.

In 2010, he was conferred one of the highest civilian awards of the Philippines, the Order of Lakandula, Rank of Bayani for his contributions in cultural administration, the popularization of Philippine history, and for having served as Chairman of the National Historical Institute from 2002 to 2010, and concurrently Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts 2005–2007, without compensation.

In December 2013, during President Benigno Aquino III's visit to Tokyo, Ocampo received the Presidential Medal of Merit whose citation reads, "for his achievements as scholar, teacher, and in recognition of his writings through which he polarized Philippine history, art and culture thus bringing these aspects of our national identity closer to the people."

In September 2016, Ocampo was conferred the prestigious Fukuoka Prize (Academic) for his contributions to his essays and teaching in Philippine history and culture being the fifth Filipino to be so honored with the recognition.

Honours

National honours

•  Philippines: Grand Cross of the Order of Lakandula with Rank of Bayani (2010)
•  Philippines: Presidential Medal of Merit (2013)
•  Philippines: Knight Grand Officer (K.G.O.R) in the Order of the Knights of Rizal (2018)

Foreign honours

•  Spain: Order of Civil Merit with the Rank of Commander (Encomienda) (2007)
•  France: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres with the Rank of Officier (2008)

Awards

•  Philippines: National Book Award (Essay) (1990)
•  Philippines: Philippine National Book Award (Literary History) (1992)
•  Philippines: Philippine National Book Award (Bibliography) (1993)
•  Japan: Fukuoka Academic Prize (2016)

Honorary degrees

•  Philippines: Polytechnic University of the Philippines: Public Administration