De La Salle University. Photo: Ramiltibayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._La_Salle_Hall_Facade.JPG)
De La Salle University. Photo: Ramiltibayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._La_Salle_Hall_Facade.JPG)
educator historian researcher writer
Antonio Calleja Hila was born on October 14, 1947, in Casiguran, Sorsogon, Philippines, to Mateo Hicarte Hila and Carolina Roco (Calleja) Hila. His later work connected the history and cultural life of the Philippines with university education, public cultural institutions, and research on music and national identity.
Hila earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of the Philippines in Quezon City in 1967. The university is the Philippines' national university and has long combined research, professional education, and public service in the country's intellectual life.
He completed a Master of Arts in history at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in 1990 and a Doctor of Philosophy in history there, summa cum laude, in 1998. Founded in 1611, the University of Santo Tomas is a Catholic university with a longstanding tradition in the humanities, theology, and historical scholarship.
Hila began teaching at the Lyceum of the Philippines in Manila in 1968 and subsequently taught at De La Salle University in Manila. At De La Salle he served as an instructor in the early 1970s and again in 1976–1977, an assistant professor in 1978–1979, an associate professor from 1986, and chair of the Department of History from 1993. De La Salle University, founded in Manila in 1911, developed as a private Catholic institution with a strong emphasis on teaching, research, and professional education.
From 1976 to 1981, Hila headed the Allied Services and Public Relations Office of the Philippine Heart Center Asia. The Philippine Heart Center, established in Quezon City in 1975, became a major Philippine institution for cardiovascular treatment, training, and research. Hila later served as a planning officer of the Metro Manila Commission from 1983 to 1985, when metropolitan governance was being organized through a regional coordinating body.
Hila managed the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985–1986 and became associated with the Cultural Center of the Philippines as a researcher and writer from 1986. The Cultural Center, opened in 1969, was created to support and present Philippine arts, including music, theater, dance, and visual culture. His cultural work included historical writing and criticism, and he was identified in the 1970s as a feature writer and reviewer of books and cultural subjects.
His scholarship has addressed Philippine historiography, music history, cultural identity, and prominent Filipino musicians and historians. He has written on the music of the Philippine Revolution, the kundiman, Philippine music, Francisco Santiago, Lucrecia Kasilag, and Teodoro Agoncillo. In later academic and cultural work he continued to participate in discussions of Philippine history, music, education, and cultural heritage.
Hila produced historical scholarship on Philippine historiography, cultural identity, and music, including studies of Teodoro Agoncillo, the Philippine Revolution's music, the kundiman, and major Filipino composers and musicians.
He contributed to public cultural education through research, writing, music criticism, university teaching, and work associated with the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
(An article examining revolutionary music, including patri...)
1997(A historical survey of Philippine music published in Ad V...)
2002(An article tracing the kundiman as a Philippine musical f...)
1994(A collection of essays on Philippine musical history and ...)
2004(A study of Teodoro Agoncillo's historical method and Fili...)
2001(A study of Philippine music published by the Cultural Cen...)
1989(A review of Schumacher's The Propaganda Movement publishe...)
1973(A historical study of the Filipino composer Francisco San...)
1990Hila's historical writing treats interpretation as a central part of historical scholarship rather than as a simple reproduction of facts. His work on Teodoro Agoncillo examines the importance of perspective in writing Philippine history, especially the distinction between colonial and Filipino viewpoints.
His writings on music connect musical forms with historical experience, cultural identity, and national consciousness. Studies of the kundiman and the music of the Philippine Revolution present music as both an artistic tradition and a medium through which Filipinos expressed collective memory and political feeling.
Hila has been associated with the Philippine National Historical Society since 1989 and with the Manila Studies Program since 1996. He served on the executive committee of the National Committee on History Research and participated in work connected with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts from 1998. These organizations and programs support historical research, cultural scholarship, and the preservation and interpretation of Philippine heritage.
Philippine National Historical Society , Philippines
1989 - present
Manila Studies Program , Philippines
1996 - present
Served on the executive committee.
National Committee on History Research , Philippines
1998 - present
Participated in committee work related to Philippine cultural and historical research.
National Commission for Culture and the Arts , Philippines
1998 - present
Quotes from others about the person
Hila has been described in institutional and cultural coverage as a historian, music writer, critic, and arts educator. His public scholarly work has been associated with historical interpretation, Philippine music, and cultural education.
Hila married Maria Corazon Jose Alejo on April 2, 1977. They have four children: Hiyas, Lakan Emmanuel, Ani, and Aya Fatima.
