Arabic Noli Me Tangere launched

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine embassy in Iraq has launched a translation project for Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere from its original 19th century Spanish to Arabic, to commemorate 50 years of Philippine-Iraq bilateral relations.

The project, recently launched at a reception in Baghdad before Iraqi government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, academe, representatives from cultural heritage groups in Iraq, marks the first time that the Noli Me Tangere is translated to Arabic, a language with over 400 million speakers worldwide.

The milestone project was first conceived in 2024 by Ambassador Charlie Pacaña Manangan, a Knight of Rizal originally from the Wilhelmsfeld, Heidelberg chapter of the Knights of Rizal in Germany, and the embassy’s cultural diplomacy team led by Third Secretary and Vice Consul Anthon Cayaco.

The Arabic translation was done by Reyadh Mahdi Jasim Al-Najjar of the University of Baghdad, and was made possible through the efforts of the Philippine Embassy Iraq, the Office of Cultural Diplomacy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, which provided the funding.

A manuscript of the translation was turned over to the Iraqi government, represented by Hisham Al-Alawi, the deputy foreign minister for political planning affairs. Spanish Ambassador to Iraq Alicia Rico Perez del Pulgar, Philippine Honorary Consul to Kurdistan Falah Anwar Kahrur and ICTSI Basra Gateway Terminal chief executive officer Romeo Salvador witnessed the handover.

Copies of the translation are expected to be made available in 2026.