TWO weeks ago, I wrote an article where I highlighted the importance of preserving sources, documents, books and old imprints. The existence of these should not be taken for granted, as in a nation such as the Philippines, which is prone to floods, typhoons, earthquakes and fires, these are exposed to irremediable loss. The preservation of the textual heritage of the Philippines is essential to understand its development as a nation.

Largely unnoticed is a praiseworthy initiative named DigiPhiLit (https://digiphilit.uantwerpen.be/), which actually focuses on the preservation of Filipino sources and the dissemination of knowledge on Philippine literature in Spanish. The project is coordinated by the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and generously funded by the European Union for the years 2020 tp 2023. Five prestigious universities take part in it: Université of Clermont-Auvergne (France), Université Paris Nanterre (France), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain), UNED (Spain) and, from the Philippine side, Ateneo de Manila University. External assessors of the project also include Filipino members such as Daisy López (University of the Philippines or UP Diliman) and Gaspar Vibal from the Vibal Foundation.

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