Vibal Foundation Relaunches Filipiniana.net

Vibal Foundation, Inc. (VFI) relaunched its digital library and research portal Filipinana.net last March 25, 2022. The website aims to become the largest source of public domain documents on Philippine studies.

What is Filipiniana.net?

Filipiniana.net stores digital versions and summaries of unpublished or out-of-print documents written in Filipino, English, or Spanish. With its relaunch, scholars and enthusiasts have free access to original source texts, transcriptions, annotated translations, and other information related to Philippine history and culture. Readers can also browse through various topics related to the Philippines and Spain.

The digital repository was first introduced in 2006 by VFI founder and publisher Gaspar Vibal. However, after a few years, the in-house team lost access to the original materials posted on the website. With a new team of web developers, editors, and staff in 2020, VFI decided to revamp the digital library in time for the quincentennial celebration.

What’s New?

Filipiniana.net is back with new content and a new user interface. In its 2022 release, readers can find four collections of documents on Filipino-Spanish relations. Each entry per collection contains the original version, English translation, executive summary, and related links.

The First Circumnavigation of the World features the annotated documentation of Antonio Pigafetta, including the discovery of the Philippines by the Spanish fleet in 1521. The Jose Felipe Del-Pan collection features his anthology of unappreciated works from 1851 to 1891–a critical period in the growth and maturity of the Filipino mind. The Works of Jose Rizal contains his literary works during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. The Parnaso Hispano-Filipino features an anthology of literature that sums up the Filipino and Spanish experience. It contains classic plays, poems, and essays written in original Spanish text with English translation.

The relaunched website also has a Create Your Notebook feature that allows registered users to write private documents and copy and paste content from the collections to their user notebook.

Visit Filipiniana.net at https://filipiniana.net/ to explore its new content and features.