Ambeth Ocampo talks about creating history textbook for new generation: ‘Marami nang lumabas na bagong kaalaman’

Historian Ambeth Ocampo spoke about creating a new history book for the younger generation, especially because many events have happened since the release of the older editions.

In an episode of “The Howie Severino Podcast,” Ocampo said renowned historian Teodoro Agoncillo’s textbook was still being used to this day even though he passed away in 1985.

“So the chapters na pinalitan ay hindi na kaniya. And then nu’ng binasa ko ’yung libro, makikita mo ’yung footnote, ‘as of 1956 GDP of the ...’ Sabi ko, 1956 tapos 1990 ’yung libro,” he said.

[So the chapters that were changed were no longer his. And when I read the book, you can see on the footnote, ‘as of 1956 GDP ...’ It was in 1956 but the book was dated 1990.]

As an example, Ocampo said that Agoncillo passed away before the EDSA revolution and yet his books included chapters on the historical event, making it obvious that he was not the one who wrote it.

“Ang challenge sa akin ngayon, gumawa ng bagong textbook for a new generation,” said Ocampo.

“But Agoncillo talaga ang standard textbook even until today. But sad to say, kahit kaibigan ko siya, dapat papahingahin na ’yung librong ’yun dahil marami nang lumabas na bagong kaalaman na puwede nating baguhin.”

[The challenge for me now is to create a new textbook for a new generation. But Agoncillo is really the standard textbook even until today. But sad to say, even if he’s my friend, we have to retire his book because a lot of new knowledge have since been known which can be included in a new book.] – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News