34 Facts About Ambeth Ocampo

Ambeth R Ocampo is a Filipino public historian, academic, cultural administrator, journalist, author, and independent curator.

Ambeth Ocampo is best known for his definitive writings about Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal and on topics in Philippine history and Philippine art through Looking Back, his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Ambeth Ocampo served as Chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines from 2002 until 2011 and concurrently as chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts from 2005 to 2007.

Ambeth Ocampo subsequently obtained his undergraduate and masteral degrees in Philippine Studies from the De La Salle University in 1989 and 1991.

Ambeth Ocampo took graduate courses at 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.

Ambeth Ocampo abandoned his London postgraduate studies in 1993, when he entered the Our Lady of Montserrat Abbey as a Benedictine monk under the monastic name Dom.

Ambeth Ocampo began writing for Weekend Magazine, the Sunday supplement of the Philippine Daily Express in 1985 and subsequently joined its editorial staff as an associate editor.

Ambeth Ocampo's 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.

Since 1986, Ambeth Ocampo has published more than 35 books and other publications that have consisted of compilations of his various essays, and writings on Philippine history, arts, and culture.

Ambeth Ocampo has annotated the second edition of Rizal in Saga: A Life for Student Fans written by National Artist Nick Joaquin that includes newly uncovered research material collated by Ocampo and photographs from his private collection in 2021.

Ambeth Ocampo has written about the history of foreign relations of the Philippines including France, Japan, Mexico, Singapore and the Czech Republic.

Ambeth Ocampo was appointed chairman of the National Historical Institute in 2002 and later elected chair of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 2005.

Nevertheless, Ambeth Ocampo is considered one of the most prominent Philippine historians today.

In 2024, Ambeth Ocampo interviewed contemporary artist Pio Abad, who visually documents the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family.

Ambeth Ocampo presently 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 then, Ambeth 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.

Ambeth Ocampo has written or contributed publications on the biography and art of several contemporary artists, including those of Spanish-Philippine artist Fernando Zobel, visual artist and fashion designer Mark Lewis Lim Higgins and contemporary artists Randalf Dilla and Pio Abad.

The issue later resurfaced in 1990, when Ambeth Ocampo engaged in a heated word war with former Philippine politician Manuel Morato who published these drawings in the said book.

Since then, Ambeth Ocampo has continued providing commentaries on other issues on Philippine art, including the 2019 sale of Camote Diggers considered the last artwork by National Artist Botong Francisco and the provenance of an boceto of the Spoliarium by Juan Luna in 2018.

Consequently, Ambeth Ocampo has conducted extensive research on Philippine antiquities including Christian art, Southeast Asian ceramics, maps, and furniture.

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

From 1987 until 1992, Ambeth Ocampo served as a consultant to the National Library of the Philippines with a concurrent capacity as a member of the National Committee on Libraries and Information Services and the National Committee on Monuments and Sites under the Presidential Commission on Culture and the Arts.

In 1999, Ambeth Ocampo was appointed board member of the National Historical Institute by President Joseph Estrada.

From 2002 to 2011, Ambeth Ocampo served as adviser to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Numismatic Committee that deliberated on the redesign of banknotes and coins in the Philippines.

Ambeth Ocampo has written extensively on Philippine numismatics in a series of articles, particularly on the controversies surrounding currency design and its political context.

Ambeth Ocampo served as chairman of the Department of History, School of Social Sciences in the Ateneo de Manila University.

Ambeth Ocampo is visiting research fellow, Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan and research associate, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, US.

Ambeth Ocampo previously served as professorial lecturer in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines Diliman from 1989 until 2010 and served on the board of regents of the Universidad de Manila, where he served as its president and vice president for academic affairs from 1996 to 1998.

Ambeth Ocampo has held previous appointments at the De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, and San Beda College.

Ambeth Ocampo has held appointments as visiting research fellow in Kyoto University, and Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Ambeth Ocampo has won three National Book Awards in these categories: Essay, Literary History, and Bibliography.

Ambeth Ocampo was awarded the Premio Manuel Bernabe from the Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Espana en Filipinas and a Premio Quijano de Manila from the Instituto Cervantes Manila.

Ambeth Ocampo was elected National Fellow for Essay by the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center.

In September 2016, Ambeth Ocampo was awarded the prestigious Fukuoka Prize for his contributions to Philippine history and culture making him the fifth Filipino to be so honored with the recognition.