When people ask why I have not done research in the United States National Archives and Records Administration (Nara), my standard reply is that browsing the Philippine material in the US Library of Congress alone will take more than one lifetime. A Filipino historian...

The six-year term granted elected presidents of the Philippines, is truly short for a good one, but very long for a bad one. That a Philippine president cannot be reelected is truly sad for a good one, and necessary for a bad one. All this came to mind with the...

Freud is my constant travel companion, a small stuffed doll who figures in my social media posts. Before I learned to take selfies, especially the “point five” type I learned from my undergrad students, travel snapshots usually consisted of Freud. When I find myself...

Long before we had Loyola Memorial Park, St. Peter’s, Eternal Gardens, Heritage Memorial Park and all sorts of columbariums, there was La Loma Catholic Cemetery, the Cementerio del Norte (Manila North Cemetery), Manila South Cemetery, and the Manila Chinese Cemetery....

Last week, I stayed in the 432-year-old Hotel zum Ritter St. Georg in Heidelberg. I chose the hotel for its age and the fact that its façade is one of the tourist attractions Rizal saw during his stay in 1886. However, the big disappointment was the absence of...

Some people or organizations do not give much thought to names and, more importantly, acronyms. When I was first researching in the National Library in the early 1980s, I came to know of the publications of the Cultural Research Association of the Philippines. When...

The recovery from eBay of a historical document stolen from the National Library of the Philippines is cause for rejoicing. We should not, however, stop there and find out who consigned the stolen document, and ask this person where it came from and when it came into...

The Philippine booth at the Frankfurt Bookfair has a display of the latest titles from various publishers including my book “Cabinet of Curiosities.” Novels and komiks have more universal appeal and publishers have expressed much interest in them. A pity my work on...

Travel is a caprice in childhood, a passion in youth, a necessity in adulthood, and an elegy in old age.” With such musings, make no mistake, Jose Rizal was a traveler, not a tourist. Unlike people who go on European package tours, herded like cattle in tourist...

Intramuros was one of my secret weapons as a rookie teacher. Here, the visual aids were literally larger than life. San Agustin Church, Puerta Isabel, Fort Santiago, Bastion de San Diego, and Puerta Real were part of my half-day walking tours. While my enthusiasm has...