Book Launch for Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo

Ambeth R. Ocampo, Senator Gil J. Puyat Professor at Ateneo de Manila University, and Distinguished Professorial Lecturer at De La Salle University, is a Public Historian and Independent Curator whose research covers the 19th Century Philippines: its art, culture, and the people who figure in the birth of the Filipino nation. He writes Looking Back, the longest-running editorial page column on history for the Philippines Daily Inquirer. Among his 35 books, Rizal Without the Overcoat has been in print for the past 35 years. Professor Ocampo previously served as President, City College of Manila; President, Philippine Historical Association; Co-Chair, Manila Historical and Heritage Commission; Chairman, National Historical Commission of the Philippines and concurrently Chairman, National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He has held academic appointments at University of the Philippines (Diliman and Baguio), De La Salle University, Chulalongkorn University, Kyoto University, Sophia University, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. His work in public history has been recognized through various honors and awards: the Fukuoka Academic Prize, Ten Outstanding Young Men, Metrobank Outstanding Teacher Award, and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship. He was conferred the Spanish Order of Civil Merit, the French Order of Arts and Letters, and from the Philippines as Knight Grand Officer (Knights of Rizal), the Order of Lakandula (Rank of Bayani),and the Presidential Medal of Merit. In another life, he was a Benedictine monk known as Dom. Ignacio Maria, OSB. Today, he publishes history on his growing Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels.

Noelle Sy-Quia was born and baptized in 1946 in Malate Church, Manila. Now 79 years old and retired, she remains active in cultural and literary circles. Noelle is deeply rooted in Philippine history. She is the great-granddaughter of Maria Rizal, the sixth child of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso, and elder sister of national hero José Rizal. Her maternal grandfather, Mauricio Rizal Cruz—Maria’s eldest—fathered Caridad Argüelles Cruz, who married Pedro Michels de Champourcin Sy-Quia. Noelle is their eldest daughter. She is also a first cousin of Gemma Cruz Araneta, through her maternal uncle Ismael Argüelles Cruz.