The Cebu Provincial Government flew the Philippine flag at half-mast at the Capitol on Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, to honor National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares, who passed away on Saturday, Sept. 5, a day after his 83rd birthday.
Gov. Pamela Baricuatro ordered the tribute through Executive Order 49, crediting Mojares's writings with preserving and sharing Cebu’s history, culture, and identity with readers locally and globally.
Mojares founded the Cebuano Studies Center at the University of San Carlos, serving as its director from 1975 to 1996, and was named National Artist for Literature in 2018.
THE Cebu Provincial Government flew the Philippine flag at half-mast at the Capitol on Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, to mourn the death and honor the legacy of National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares, whose writings helped preserve Cebu’s history, culture and identity.
Gov. Pamela Baricuatro ordered the tribute through Executive Order 49, issued that day, following the scholar’s death on Saturday, Sept. 5, a day after he turned 83.
Baricuatro credited his writings with preserving and sharing Cebu’s history, identity and stories with Cebuanos and readers across the Philippines and abroad.
“Dr. Mojares brought great honor to Cebu. Through his writings, he helped preserve and tell our history, our identity, and our stories — not only for Cebuanos, but for the entire nation and the world. Cebu will forever be proud to call him one of our own,” Baricuatro said in the executive order.
Born in Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte, Mojares spent much of his life and career in Cebu, where he studied and taught at the University of San Carlos.
He was the founding director of the university’s Cebuano Studies Center, serving from 1975 to 1996 and helping develop an institution devoted to research on Cebuano and Visayan history, language, literature and culture.
Named National Artist for Literature in 2018, Mojares produced works on literary criticism, history, biography, politics and cultural studies.
His books include “The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu, 1899-1906” and “House of Memory,” a collection of essays first published in SunStar Weekend, SunStar Cebu’s then-weekly magazine. / ANV
