Miguel Syjuco

Miguel is the narrator and protagonist of Ilustrado. He is a Filipino-Canadian writer who lives in New York at the beginning of the novel, and goes to Manila in search of the missing manuscript of Crispin Salvador, his mentor. In the Philippines, he focuses only on his quest for answers about Crispin and his death, remaining largely disconnected from major political movements and the news. Miguel has five siblings, although one of his older sisters, Charlotte, ran away from home and was estranged from the family. Miguel was born in the Philippines, but his parents were killed for their political involvement when he was young. Thus, him and his siblings moved to Vancouver, where they were raised by their grandparents.

Miguel is passionately convinced of the relevance of his work and of Crispin's work. The relevance of literature in Philippine political activism becomes a major question throughout...