Dante Simbulan Sr.

Dante Cantos Simbulan Sr. (May 3, 1930 – October 12, 2024) was a Filipino educator, author, and military officer best known for his influential role as a voice of social conscience for the generation of cadets who studied at the Philippine Military Academy in the days just before the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Simbulan's influence and reputation led to his being held by the Marcos regime as a political prisoner at Fort Bonifacio and Camp Crame for three and half years without charges.

Early life and education Simbulan was born on May 3, 1930, at Barangay San Miguel, San Simon, Pampanga, to Ignacio Simbulan y de los Santos, also of San Simon, Pampanga, and Apolonia Cantos y Untalán, of Batangas City. Simbulan was also known for inviting Communist Party of the Philippines chair Jose Maria Sison to deliver a lecture at the PMA titled "The mercenary tradition of the Armed Forces of the Philippines".

Despite already being a full colonel, Simbulan resigned his commission and his teaching post in the years leading up to martial law. where he eventually became the dean of the Liberal Arts College.

He was imprisoned from June 26, 1974 to November 29, 1977. He went into exile for the rest of the Marcos administration. and his 2005 book The Modern Principalia: the Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy.

Death Simbulan died in Fairfax County, Virginia, on October 12, 2024, at the age of 94.