MICHAEL “XIAO” CHUA
LAST Thursday, the Museo ni Mariano Ponce in Baliwag, Bulacan was inaugurated by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Ponce was the actual founder of La Solidaridad, the propaganda newspaper where the ideas that imagined the nation flowed. He was also one of our pioneer diplomats and public historians who wrote the history of our country in capsule form in newspaper columns (like what we are doing here in the Times). The guest of honor and speaker was Dr. Ma. Luisa Camagay, the president of the Philippine Historical Association, an expert and translator of the works of Ponce. Also present was another Ponce biographer, Dr. Jaime B. Veneracion who, like Ponce before him, is a stalwart of public history in the country.