Squee — Ambeth Ocampo featured my Looking Back post on his Facebook page (special thanks to Jzhun and Marie for pointing it out to me). That made my day, so I’m sharing some love! Here’s a new giveaway: a three-book set of Looking Back (volumes 1-3: Looking Back, Dirty Dancing, Death by Garrote), which I reviewed in my last post.
UPDATE: Am now giving away two sets on Sunday, thank you Anvil Publishing (through Ms. Gwenn Galvez) for pledging another set!
Each book is a compilation of historian Ambeth Ocampo’s essays on Philippine history and culture — some from his out of print books Looking Back, Aguinaldo’s Breakfast, Mabini’s Ghost, and Luna’s Mustache, and some recent selections from his weekly newspaper column.
Here’s how you can win this prize:
1. The raffle is open to all blog readers with a Philippine mailing address.
2. To enter the raffle, tell me why you want to win this giveaway in the comments section of this post.
3. Entries will be accepted until Sunday, March 20, 6 pm, Manila time.
4. One raffle entry per email address, per person (in other words one entry per person). I will reply to your entry in the comments section to validate it, and I reserve the right to weed out suspicious entries.
5. One lucky winner will be drawn via Random.org. Winner will be announced here within three days after the end of the entry period. Random.org screenshot will accompany the announcement of the winners.
6. An email will also be sent to the winner to request his or her (Philippine) mailing address. The prize will be packaged securely and sent via a local courier, unless I will be seeing the winner anytime soon (e.g. FFP book discussion, FBB meetup, quiz night, geek fight or whatnot).
The raffle officially opens as soon as this post is up.
I want to join because I love Ambeth Ocampo’s books and his column at PDI =)
Got it, Sana! We should arrange for an FFP book discussion with him, wouldn’t that be fun?
Hi! I’m joining again :D haha!
I want to win the books because 1) I don’t want to deny the fact that I’m ignorant with some Filipino books 2) I know Ambeth Ocampo but it’s not enough 3) Is he related to Diether Ocampo? They look gwapo (lol I kid) 4) I heard he’s a brilliant writer 5) maybe this will be the one to motivate me to read local books
:D
Hahaha, Ishay. Welcome back! :D I love how enthusiastic you are about my giveaways
Because I need to re-learn history. (Too bad I can’t claim I slept through history class. Lord knows how much I enjoyed Mr. Arellano’s class. #sarcasm)
there’s also that teenybopper notebook episode :D
I have a thirteen year old daughter, whose knowledge of Philippine history comes from what little we remember from our History class back in high school. I remember reading some of Ambeth’s books (Aguinaldo’s Breakfast, Rizal without the overcoat, Bonifacio’s Bolo , Mabini’s Ghost) and had a good time reading them. I learned more from a week’s reading of Mr. Ocampo’s book than those years of History class. I want to share this experience with her and hope that it will bridge the learning gap and pick her interest in reading Philippine history.
Thank you for joining! It’s always great to see parents involved with their children’s schoolwork :)
i enjoyed and loved reading Ambeth Ocampo’s books as in I did, it’s like reading entertainment news magazine which tells our history. :)
Agree, it’s like the YES magazine of Philippine history!
i want to join because the books to be raffled off will probably have ambeth ocampo’s signature in it. and i need to have a good book to read for the summer.
Hi Eps, just a clarification — these are not signed copies, although you can probably get them signed if you see him in person. The Manila International Book Fair is always a good place for an Ambeth Ocampo sighting / signing :D
I am joining because-(I promise not to use my age-to avoid seniority preference-LOL)
1. I started collecting Mr. Ocampo’s Inquiring clippings when 1991-a bored mother-to-be. that was the time I thoguht he was a she-not because of the name,but of the hair! LOL. We were in Pampanga-I lost all the clippings due to Mt. Pinatubo eruption-yes-I was there!
2. I continued again keeping new sets of clippings- We were in project 4— the whole of rainy season- our things get submerged-so what the heck with these clippings anyway- …though
3. …I asked my mom to save more clippings for me. she was based in Ormoc- then the famous Ormoc flood came!ok-I will exagerate if I say the precious clippings was washed away-she just didnt do it-LOL
4. We moved to Davao to North Luzon to South Luzon-and to any point of Luzon Visayas and Mindanao- No, I did not cut his columns anymore-I got tired- and he looked like a boy now this time.
5. My daughter and I share fascination of the Philippine History-while other people hate Sibika at Kultura,we were both loving it-why? History is a story- just similar to Mara Clara. There’s drama,there’s action. minus the “papatayin kita! Papatayin kita hampas lupa ka!!!
6. Oh please-I have to stop here now or this would be as thick as Rizal’s novelas…and before I decide that Mr. Ocampo is a jinx (LOL-pinatubo,flood and of course na Ondoy kami no…chest deep)
Truly- history is interesting. My daughter is is UP now. We wish though she can experience a day or 2 with Mr. Ocampo-even a minute will do-but of course it wouldnt be enough-not even for photo ops. So I am a mother, who loves history,and …most of all loyal to Mr. Ambeth Ocampo- ay lalaki man diay siya uy…pastilan man sad.
Hi Rebecca! My, that’s quite a story — proof that fandom will triumph against natural disasters!
I can’t understand the last part of your statement though :p
I want to join although I already have the books so that I can share them to my children, friends and relatives. I love them so much so that they should also have knowledge of what is the true Philippine History. The books are awesome, well-researched and truly Filipino..
Hear, hear on the awesome, well-researched and truly Filipino..
I want to join because i love history and i love Sir ambeth’s column and also i’ve never read a locally published book before (unless it was a required textbook in school) so this might be a good opportunity for me to start.
Oh, I sure hope you try out locally published books, whether you win this giveaway or not :)
I’m joining your raffle because I’m an avid fan and follower of Sir Ambeth and I really loved reading his books :D
:) Ok Jason
I want to join because I know that history is a really interesting topic. I just need the right resources to learn more. :)
Yup, these books make a great starting point
I want to win the books, especially Rizal Without the Overcoat, because I might be working on a Rizal website. Only this year, I was just telling Rizal’s descendant that we should read Ambeth Ocampo’s books!
Hi Amity, wow, a Rizal website! This giveaway includes only the Looking Back books (vol. 1-3). But, guess what, Anvil is releasing a new edition of RWTO for the Rizal Centennial this year!
Hi! I’m a reader of your blog and I’m also a new blogger and this will be my first time to enter an online raffle. :)
I want to be part of this contest because I recently rediscovered the goodness of our own literature. I lost faith in Filipino writers mainly because of the boring, and not to mention the very poor work of some of the translators and editors of my high school textbooks (see: Noli and El Fili). But thanks to Nick Joaquin’s “The Woman Who Had Two Navels” I am now more motivated to read Filipino works and I really liked Ambeth Ocampo’s “Rizal Without The Overcoat” which is really a fun and engaging read given that it is a book about Rizal’s life and we had these impressions that history books are boring. I wish that he’ll hold special lectures in UP so that I can also experience how amazing a teacher he must be :)
Hi Gelo. Welcome to the book blogging world — do join us at Filipino Book Bloggers (filipinobookbloggers.wordpress.com)!
hello… i am not joining kasi meron na akong kumpleto, with authograph pa ni sir ambeth =). na-catch lang yung attention ko sa subhead…parang line sa song ni Elvis Presley na “Something Blue”. are you a fan of the King? curious lang po.
Hi Marie :D Hehe, I am a fan of the King but only because of Lilo and Stitch. My dad was a big fan of his though.
The subhead is from a column I had in my high school newspaper, adapted from the wedding epithet.
I want to win this giveaway because of the following reasons:
* I really want to read Ambeth Ocampo’s books.
* History is one of my favorite subjects, aside from Math and Science.
* Back when I was in high school, I collect and read Ambeth Ocampo’s articles in PDI (did not get to keep up with it during college)
* Back in college, I was not able to get into his class, so the next best thing would be to read his books
* Needs new books to read. . . and I think these would be good
Hi Grace! :) During the sem I was scheduled to take Hi165, I was holding my breath that the slots wouldn’t close up. I made sure that was the first class I enlisted in that sem!
Oh, and isn’t technology great? Now we can read his weekly column online.
I want to win your giveaway because for the longest time, I have wanted to own any of Mr. Ambeth Ocampo’s books but have been unable to do so because I do not have the money.
Thanks for joining Elmer. If you’re ever at the Manila International Book Fair, the Anvil always has great deals for their books. I even got a shirt free when I bought the three books there, and I got them signed too.
I am participating to show my love and appreciation to Prof. Ambeth Ocampo. Any body could buy this to national book store…but to get it because I won it in a way that HONOR the great historian…that’s different…I could post on his wall” sir Ambeth nanalo ako duun sa palaro” na nag bibigay parangal sayo…
Any acts that would connotes that we are grateful, having him as a teacher, writer or what ever which way… I will participate.
:) True, true. Cheers to that!
Being a busy mom, most often than not, I do multi-tasking. Now I had found a chance to get a book that’s fit with my taste why pass the chance? Any multitask(er) would joint this…it’s a material that is free, entertaining, factual and educational.
Joining is a worthwhile endeavour. Its like a store sale with 100% discount. hehehehehehe.
“Its like a store sale with 100% discount” — hahaha, at least for the lucky winner :D
I’d love to read those works of Mr. Ambeth XD Sadly, I didn’t got him for History prof, but I’m a huge fan of him in Facebook and reads his posts and articles daily. Please please please let me win ^^
Hi Ian, good luck! :)
I want the books because I’m a big fan of Ambeth Ocampo and I always read anything written by him and anything about him. And of course, I’m a sucker for free items. Who isn’t?
Ok limraul, thanks for joining!
i’m joining because i’m a fan and i would love to have new books to read this summer vacation. his books are interesting and how i wish i have enough money to buy those. good thing here’s this raffle. hope i’ll win.
Hope you have a good summer! :)
I adore Ambeth Ocampo’s hilarious take on Philippine history. He makes a relatively boring subject a really good, intriguing read.
I may not have been blessed to have been a student of his, but in reading his work, makes me feel like I’ve internalized his insights into our culture and history well enough.
=)
He really does make it interesting — back in college, I think his class was the only class none of us wanted to cut because we didn’t want to miss out on his lecture :D
I want to win the books because I am looking forward of ‘Looking Back’. These books will surely bring lessons from the past for the lazy summer days ahead. :)
ok Bobby
Hi ! I want to win because I don’t have any book written by Mr. Ambeth Ocampo in my collection. Maybe, just maybe, Looking Back, Dirty Dancing and Death by Garrote is currently calling my attention.
all right leo. keep your fingers crossed
Ei, first ever post here. Nice blog by the way, fun and at the same time informative. :)
I want to join this giveaway because even though I’ve been born and raised in the Philippines, I have to admit that I am completely ignorant about our country’s history and I’d like for that to change. I’ve been hearing a lot about Sir Ocampo’s great writing and reading him might ignite in me the long dormant interest in knowing more about the Filipino’s heritage. :D
Hi Sheryl, thanks for dropping by.
Yup, reading Ambeth Ocampo will surely perk up your appetite for history :)
Because I am Ambeth Ocampo’s alterego.
Bwahaha… Pwede, Czar, pwede!
Lucky you, you were able to get his Hi165 class. In my case back then, it is either the schedule conflicts with a major or the slots are already filled up.
Indeed, technology helps me catch up on reading his articles.
Bloo, I want to win “Looking Back” because my classmate (or is it a teacher- I forget) in high school borrowed it about 12 years ago and never returned my copy! :-(
Aww, the classmate probably enjoyed it so much he kept it for himself! :)
I want to win this giveaway because I want to change the fact that I know more about the History of Hogwarts than of my own country. *hangs head in shame*
Hogwarts History!!! Haha, I’m with you on that one. But it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about our own history :)
I want to win this giveaway because Ambeth Ocampo was one author who really got me interested in our Philippine history (through the Rizal Without the Overcoat book) and these look really interesting.
I agree — none of the Philippine history textbooks we read in school were half as interesting!
Ooh, I think this is getting more popular than your sign language stamps giveaway! Hooray for Ambeth Ocampo, who raised the point that why the eff are Katipuneros depicted as wearing red pants all the time when by doing so they would be easily spotted anywhere!
I remember the red pants article, hahaha.
A lot of people who joined were directed here by Sir Ambeth himself, he posted a link to the giveaway (and the Looking Back post) on his FB page.
i want to win your giveaway coz i didnt ever take my rizal course seriously and i feel now that im missing a lot. i hate being compelled to read anything probably. now that there’s no more compulsion id love to enjoy our history this time. ^^
True, sometimes being required to read something can take the fun out of it…
Sali ako Blooey! I want to win because the first time I met Ambeth Ocampo, a Rizal historian, I blurted out: “Actually, mas gusto ko si Bonifacio kesa kay Rizal.” Foot in the mouth moment. :P
So kelangang bumawi by reading all his books. These are the only ones left unread.
LOL, I remember that story! :D
I want to win the books because it compromises the juicy bits and pieces of information about our history that my history teachers failed to share. Kudos to Mr. Ocampo who made the effort to compile it in books so that we, the younger generations would appreciate the subject more.
Thanks for joining Cynthia, check back again soon for updates
UPDATE: Am now giving away two sets on Sunday (to the top two names that come up on the list randomizer), thank you Anvil Publishing (through Ms. Gwenn Galvez) for pledging another set!
I want to be chosen as the winner of this giveaway because I never afford the time to buy Sir Ambeth’s books and I want to have any copy of his books! I’ve always known him as a Rizal historian and believe it or not, Rizal is really one of my all-time heroes(aka IDOL) and I discovered Sir Ambeth during high school when I read one of his articles sent to me by a friend. Ever since, I’ve been searching for everything of ambeth ocampo’s. From Leonor Rivera’s museum to his other works…
One more day! I’ll have the winners up by tomorrow night
i want to win because i believe in the talents of the Filipinos. in every aspect, the Filipinos shine whether in literature, sports or just about anything. i have not read any of his books but surely after reading many comments here, his books will be on my book-shopping list. thank you.
Hear, hear, cabbie
I want to win Mr. Ambeth Ocampo’s books because I’ve always been fascinated with our history and his books seem to have the ‘inside scoop’ of famous icons from our philippine history. I’ve only read his book from a friend and never had a copy of mine and I want a copy too!!
I just borrowed Rizal without the Overcoat too, the first time I read it.
Because I’m a fan of Sir Ambeth
Last entry for the giveaway. Results will be up in a bit! :)