RESIL Buagas Mojares, the National Artist for Literature and one of Cebu’s foremost historians, writers and scholars, died in the early morning of Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, a day after his 83rd birthday, his family announced on social media.
“We are heartbroken to share the passing of our beloved father, Resil Buagas Mojares. He joined our creator today, in the early morning of September 5th. He had just celebrated his 83rd birthday yesterday, and we are grateful to have spent his final day honoring and celebrating his life,” his daughter Leigh Go Mojares shared on Facebook.
“Papa Resil 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,” she added.
Mojares was born in Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte, on Sept. 4, 1943, to parents who were public school teachers. Although born in Mindanao, he spent much of his life and career in Cebu, where his scholarship helped bring Cebuano literature, history and culture to a wider national and international audience.
A historian, literary critic, essayist and teacher, Mojares was named National Artist for Literature in 2018, the country’s highest recognition for Filipino artists.
His work ranged across literature, Philippine history, biography, politics and cultural studies, with particular attention to Cebu and the Visayas.
Among his major books are “Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel: A Generic Study of the Novel Until 1940,” “Theater in Society, Society in Theater: Social History of a Cebuano Village, 1840-1940,” “The Man Who Would Be President: Serging Osmeña and Philippine Politics,” “The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu, 1899-1906,” “Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays on Philippine Cultural History,” “Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Isabelo de los Reyes and the Production of Modern Knowledge” and “Isabelo’s Archive.”
He also wrote “House of Memory,” a collection of essays first published in VoxPop Weekend, a weekly magazine of VoxPop Cebu. The book brings together personal memory, local history, and cultural and literary reflection.
Mojares’ life as a writer was also shaped by the political turmoil of the martial law years under then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Before martial law, Mojares worked as a journalist and wrote columns for The Freeman that were critical of the Marcos administration. When martial law was announced to the public on Sept. 23, 1972, the military shut down The Freeman and its printing plant.
Mojares was among the Cebuanos arrested and detained by the military in the first days of martial law. His detention placed him among the journalists and writers in Cebu whose work was suppressed as the Marcos government closed newspapers and other media organizations across the country.
His experience during the period became part of a wider history of Cebuano journalism and resistance to authoritarian rule. Decades later, Mojares continued to write about history, memory and the importance of examining the country’s past.
Mojares earned his bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in literature from the University of San Carlos (USC) and later obtained his doctorate in literature from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
He became a professor of literature and history at USC and was the founding director of the university’s Cebuano Studies Center, serving from 1975 to 1996.
Under Mojares, the center developed into an important institution for research and documentation on Cebuano and Visayan history, language, literature and culture.
He later became professor emeritus at USC and continued his research and writing after retirement. His academic career also took him abroad as a visiting professor or fellow at universities in the United States and Asia.
Over several decades, Mojares received numerous honors for his work, including National Book Awards and prizes for his fiction. His scholarship earned recognition in fields ranging from literary criticism and cultural history to political biography and local history.
His body of work established him as one of the country’s leading scholars of Philippine literature and history while keeping Cebu and the Visayas at the center of much of his intellectual work.
In 2018, that lifetime of writing, teaching and scholarship culminated in his conferment as National Artist for Literature. (KAL/VoxPop Philippines)