[New from the Press] Lost Graves, Found Lives: A History and Memoir

Ateneo Press sheds light on two historical families in the Philippines in Lost Graves, Found Lives

Agapito Labalan del Rosario with Rosario Cruz-Lucero brings to light unknown details about very important Kapampangans–among them Vicente Abad Santos, Agapito Abad Santos del Rosario, and Pedro Abad Santos–in the new book, Lost Graves, Found Lives: A History and Memoir.

This history-cum-memoir is about two families, the Abad Santoses and the del Rosarios, who are intertwined by marriage and love of country. In a riveting narrative style, the book tells the first full biography of Pedro Abad Santos, the founder of the Philippine Socialist movement. Abad Santos is a martyred patriot’s son, a revolutionary, a resistance officer in the Philippine-American War, and a maverick during the US occupation.

This book also brings to light the heroism of the lesser-known Abad Santos, Agapito del Rosario or Tatang Pitong. Gonzalo Campoamor II, Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of the University of the Philippines Diliman shares that “the courage of [Agapito del Rosario’s] widow, Felicidad (“Kumander Sisa”), and of his sons (alias Kumander Ross and Cris) is also a revelation for the historian of the Hukbalahap Movement as well as that of women’s and the youth’s active roles in war.”

The authors give life to these historical figures adding context and a deeper understanding of our local and national politics, the Philippine revolution, the Philippine-American War, colonial politics, the Japanese occupation, and the Philippine culture of the late 1940s through the 1950s.

“There is no other work similar to this,” praises Ricardo T. Jose of the Department of History of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Lost Graves, Found Lives is a product of scholarly research through period publications, online resources, and other reliable materials to validate the historical narrative. It includes letters, documents, photographs, and a genealogy chart that add value to the book. The author, Agapito del Rosario, a descendant of these figures, provides a needed perspective that only a del Rosario can provide while author Cruz-Lucero supplied the empirical data needed to buttress del Rosario’s memories, weaving them seamlessly into the personal narrative.

The book covers much ground–the political history in Pampanga, family history, biography, and even cultural history.

Lost Graves, Found Lives: A History and Memoir is published by Bughaw, an imprint of the Ateneo de Manila University Press. It is available from the Ateneo Press website and in the Ateneo Press Lazada and Shopee stores in paperback. The ebook edition will be available in February 2023.

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Lost Graves, Found Lives: A History and Memoir by Agapito Labalan del Rosario with Rosario Cruz-Lucero

Category: History
Language: English
ISBN: 9786214481897
Price: P480.00

Get your copy: website | Ateneo Press Lazada and Shopee stores

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About the Authors

AGAPITO LABALAN DEL ROSARIO went to Colegio San Agustin, Makati, and Sacred Heart Seminary, Angeles City, for his primary and secondary education. While attending the Moscow Institute of Agriculture Engineering, he worked various jobs at the United States Embassy, Moscow, Russia, rising from stock clerk to assistant supervisor. He lived in Moscow from 1984 to 1994, during the period of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was a three-term councilor of Angeles City, where he still resides in retirement.

ROSARIO CRUZ-LUCERO is a retired professor of Philippine literature, comparative literature, and creative writing at UP Diliman, where she obtained her BA in English and Comparative Literature cum laude, and her MA and PhD in Philippine Studies. She is an award-winning author of historical fiction and critical essays and is an editor of anthologies on Philippine studies. She is presently the editor and one of the authors of an ongoing multivolume history of the University of the Philippines.