When the first September morning broke, UP was unaware the month will also usher in mourning to its gates.
Seven years ago, UP Diliman (èAV) celebrated and honored National Artist for Literature Resil B. Mojares as a Bulwagan ng Dangal, one of five 2018 National Artists from the University. He shared the honors with fellow UPians and National Artists Lauro “Larry” Z. Alcala (Visual Arts), Kidlat Tahimik (formerly Eric de Guia; Cinema), University Professor Emeritus Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio (Theater) and Raymundo “Ryan” Cipriano P. Cayabyab (Music). That event in June 2019 was part of the Seremonya ng Pagbubukas (opening ceremony) of Linggo ng Parangal 2019.
This year, the University bids Mojares farewell. He passed away on Sept. 5, a day after his 83rd birthday.
Distinguished as a historian and Philippine literature critic, he was a former director of the Cebuano Studies Center and Professor Emeritus at the University of San Carlos.
Mojares was also dubbed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP)as a “true titan of local history.” In 2018, he chaired the body, the NHCP convened, that reviewed the various accounts on the site of the first mass in the country. The NHCP, in 2020, upheld the recommending report of Mojares’s panel sustaining Limasawa as the historical site of the mass of 31 March 1521.
He contributed to the Cebu Town History Project, where he wrote the history of Cebu province.
The Visayan Titan of Letters, among his major works were The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu Province, House of Memory: Essays,The Man Who Would Be President: Serging Osmeña, and Philippine Politics, and Brains of the Nation.
Mojares had more than 120 titles to his name, more than 100 sole authored and coauthored works, and four sole-edited and five coedited books.
According to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, he was a leading figure in the promotion of regional literature and history.
For Danton Remoto, award-winning writer, Mojares’s work was “peerless. Massive in quantity and of high quality.”
For his body of work, Mojares was distinguished with several awards. He won several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle and received the Free Press and Carlos Palanca prizes for his short stories, and a Centennial Award for Cultural Research from the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He was visiting professor / fellow at the University of Wisconsin, University of Hawaii, University of Michigan, Kyoto University, University of California, Los Angeles, and the National University of Singapore.
In spite of all accolades, Mojares was a family man.
According to Leigh Go Mojares in her Facebook post, her father “was a pillar of our family, and although we will miss him dearly every day, we find comfort in knowing that he is now reunited with our dear mother, Sally, who left us in 2022. Together once again, resting peacefully in eternity.”
Mojares left behind his loving children, Kim Carmel, Mark Soren, Ressa Gail, and Anna Leigh, daughter-in-law Therry, son-in-law James, and five grandchildren, Margaret Alexi, Maxine Therese, Micah Kathryn, Jamie Madeline, and Chloe Jeremy.
Mojares earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Literature in 1979 from the then UP College of Arts and Sciences.
A true treasure to the Philippines and to UP. Daghang salamat, Sir! — With a report from Benito V. Sanvictores Jr.
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