MAKATI CITY — The second installment of Ayala Museum’s “History Comes Alive” lecture series brought a packed crowd to Makati for an afternoon of discovery with award-winning historian Professor Ambeth Ocampo. Held on October 4, 2026, the session focused on the Battles of La Naval and incursions into the Philippines, offering a fresh perspective on events that shaped the nation’s maritime history. The lecture was part of the museum’s three-part “Oh, I Sea!” series, which navigates Philippine history through encounters at sea and the pre-colonial roots that define the country today.
Everyday Objects as Windows to Global Trade
Ocampo began by setting the stage with an engaging look at the global connections flourishing during the era of the La Naval battles. He used three seemingly unrelated everyday items, ceramic balimbing jarlets, canned sardines, and queso de bola to illustrate how early transpacific trade linked surprising aspects of Filipino daily culture. These humble objects served as entry points to a larger story about the movement of goods, ideas, and people across oceans, demonstrating that history is often hidden in plain sight. The approach reflected Ocampo’s signature style of making complex historical narratives accessible and relevant to modern audiences.
The Lens Through Which We See History
The lecture then shifted to a deeper question: how is history told, and by whom? Ocampo examined the different perspectives that shape historical understanding, citing historian Teodoro Agoncillo’s “history from below” approach, which centers the experiences of ordinary Filipinos. He contrasted this with the deeply personal and nationalistic lens that Jose Rizal brought to his 1890 annotations of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. These examples illustrated that history is not a single, fixed narrative but a tapestry of viewpoints, each offering its own insights and blind spots. The session ended with a thought-provoking question for the audience: What other aspects of Philippine history remain unexplored simply because of our default perspective?
A Final Lecture on Pre-Colonial Gold
The series now looks ahead to its final installment, “Pre-Colonial Gold,” scheduled for November 14, 2026, from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM. This concluding lecture will explore the rich history of gold in early Philippine societies and its significance in trade, ritual, and identity long before the arrival of colonial powers. Tickets for the final lecture are available through the Ayala Museum’s official events page, and all tickets include free admission to the museum’s galleries. The lecture complements the museum’s ongoing exhibition, “Turning Tides: Maritime Encounters and Exchanges of Power,” which runs until February 14, 2027, and revisits the 1521 Battle of Mactan and the 1646 Battles of La Naval through historical artifacts and interactive displays.
