Undergrad adventures

A college professor once threatened to flunk students who will cite the works of Inquirer columnist Ambeth Ocampo in their research papers. According to the lady professor, (aww, is this a giveaway clue?) Mr. Ocampo is a pseudo-historian and mere gossiper.

But the writings of Ocampo were important to me. I became more interested in history and Philippine culture by reading Ocampo’s essays when I was in high school. I even gave my teacher a copy of Ocampo’s book, “Looking Back”, so that it may be endorsed to other students.

Ocampo can delight readers without trivializing history. He does not just provide boring facts; he narrates amusing stories. Ocampo supplements what our textbooks failed to tell us like Bonifacio’s bank accounts, Aguinaldo’s breakfast, Quezon’s fart, prewar lovers’ guide and controversies in Philippine historiography.

I remember reading an article of Ocampo about the essence of independence and he pondered whether we are really free despite the strong influence of foreign institutions in our land. That was the first time I understood neocolonialism.

In another article, he wrote:

“A Filipino invented the yoyo centuries ago, but it took an American company to develop it and make money out of it…Today, they still do the same thing. They take our natural resources, even our people, to make their country rich. When will we ever wake up?”

Ocampo’s interview with Austin Coates influenced me to buy the latter’s book on Jose Rizal which turned out to be the best biography of our national hero. Still, Ocampo’s own book on Rizal is a must-read for all students of history.

During my freshman year in college, I was curious to read the works of Teodoro Agoncillo since Ocampo wrote so many fascinating articles about this great historian. Reading Agoncillo led me to appreciate the works of other nationalist scholars like Cesar Adib Majul and Renato Constantino. Agoncillo, who was also known in the field of literature, inspired me as well to study the writings of his contemporaries or colleagues like Alejandro Abadilla, Lope K. Santos, Macario Pineda and Lazaro Francisco.

Jose Maria Sison was just a strange political figure to me until I read an article by Ocampo about this legendary communist leader.

Another example on how much I believed in Ocampo: I once insisted to my professor that I would not use the word ‘bibliography’ in my term paper since I agreed with Ocampo who wrote about the dishonesty of not a few scholars who cite so many books and articles which they haven’t read in the bibliography of their papers.

Related entries:

Undergrad notes. Maganda pa ang daigdig.
Book hunt. Best bookshops.
Silang mga nasa komunidad. Community schools.
Aguinaldo and Imelda. Ano ang ugnayan?

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Thanks to MLQ3 and Newsstand for the link on the Washington Post article about the July 7 youth rally in Mendiola.