Lio Mangubat

Faction author Lio Mangubat. Here he is pictured with wearing black glasses, a light gray blazer, and beige pants standing against a plain wall.

Over the past two decades, Lio Mangubat has worked as an editor in various print and digital publications in the Philippines, including Spot.ph, Spin.ph, and the local editions of K-Zone and Men’s Health. He has also written for the local editions of Cosmopolitan, Top Gear, Town & Country, and Esquire. In 2021, he founded the independent podcast The Colonial Dept., which continues to bring long-lost stories of Philippine history to life. Select episodes of this podcast were adapted to his first book, Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves.

Lio was recently named as one ofPreview Philippines' Creative 25 for 2026 — a list of the country's most exciting emerging creatives to watch. He currently lives in Manila and is editor in chief of Philippine publishing house Summit Books. Follow him on Instagram at @liomangubat and @thecolonialdept. 

Books by this author

Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946 Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946
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Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946
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About the Book

A country’s history is like a jigsaw puzzle. The bigger picture of how a country and its people came to be can be pieced together through multiple narratives, perspectives, and stories. In Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves, Lio Mangubat reaches back into the depths of colonial archives and brings to life long-lost stories that would otherwise have been footnotes in Philippine history.

Featuring 13 essays inspired by his podcast series The Colonial Dept., Mangubat spins tales of galleons, triads, fickle spirits, long-lost maps, and the secret history of otters. In these pages, learn about how the entire country became mad for baseball; how Mexican fighter pilots flew dangerous missions over the Philippines during World War II; or how American occupiers fell victim to a mysterious illness called “Philippinitis".

Beyond revisiting days gone by, Mangubat also connects the threads of each story to the wider tapestry of world history — and how these can unspool even up to our current time. A masterful storyteller and podcaster, he proves that the past can loom larger than the present.

About the Author

Lio Mangubat is the creator of Philippine history podcast The Colonial Dept., which features long-lost stories from the country's past under Spanish, British, American, and Japanese rule. He is currently editor in chief of publishing house Summit Books, and is based in Manila. Follow him on Instagram at @liomangubat and @thecolonialdept.