People like Ambeth R. Ocampo

Ambeth R. Ocampo (born 1961 in Manila) 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 on topics on Philippine history and Philippine art through Looking Back, his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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

Ocampo was born in Manila in 1961. He received his primary and secondary education at the Basic Education Department of Ateneo de Manila University. He subsequently obtained his undergraduate and masteral degrees in Philippine Studies from the De La Salle University in 1989 and 1991. His undergraduate thesis titled Food in Pampango Culture centered on Kapampangan cuisine, while his master thesis centered on his rediscovery of the unfinished novel of José Rizal, Makamisa during his term as a consultant to the National Library of the Philippines that was subsequently published as Makamisa: The Search for Rizal's Third Novel in 1992.