Ambeth Ocampo

Ambeth Raymundo Ocampo (born 1961) is a Filipino public historian, academic, cultural administrator, journalist, author, and independent curator. He is best known for his definitive writings about Philippines' national hero José Rizal, and for popularizing Philippine history and art through Looking Back, his long-running editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, as well as his bestselling book Rizal Without the Overcoat. In academia, Ocampo serves as a professor of history at the Ateneo de Manila University and has lectured at various universities both locally and abroad. In government service, he 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. He also served as a long-time adviser to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Numismatic Committee, aiding in the redesign of the country's currency. A prominent figure in the public defense of history against historical distortion in the Philippines, Ocampo has curated numerous museum exhibitions and published over 35 books. For his contributions to academic, cultural, and social progress, he has been conferred accolades such as the Order of Lakandula, the Presidential Medal of Merit, the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the 2016 Fukuoka Prize for Academia.