MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines Press announces the release of 1908—The Way It Really Was by Raul Rafael Ingles. Subtitled Historical Journal for the UP Centennial 1908-2008, the volume is a day-to-day chronicle of events and issues that unfolded within the year of UP’s founding.
Ingles, UP professor emeritus, conceived of the book as a tribute to UP, which he has served faithfully for many years. It compresses 365 days into less than 400 pages, and offers an immensely interesting record of the year 1908. The events covered range from the insignificant and amusing to the momentous. The volume opens with an account of New Year’s Eve revelry from The Manila Times and closes with the 12th anniversary of the death of Jose Rizal and an announcement of New Year celebrations in Malacañang.
The book’s foreword is by UP President Emerlinda Roman, who praises the “discerning mind, historical sense and literary flair” of the man who “had the imagination and the diligence to undertake the laborious research and writing of this extremely interesting book.”
In his short introduction, National Historical Institute chair Ambeth Ocampo notes that “the past becomes relevant to our times, because history as he presents it sounds strangely, and sometimes painfully, familiar.”
National Artist for Literature and UP professor emeritus Bienvenido Lumbera observes in his postscript that the book is “both history and journalism,” adding that it “causes us to ponder the early years of the American occupation of the country and to look beyond 1908 to UP’s emergence as an intellectual center of vital relevance to the development of national consciousness of the Filipino people.”
The hardcover edition sells at P800 and is available at the UP Press Bookstore in UP Diliman.