He was one of the first Cebuanos to become a political prisoner during Martial Law, arrested on September 23, 1972, the day Marcos announced that he had placed the Philippines under Martial law. A retired Professor at the
University of San Carlos (USC) in
Cebu City, he was a founding director (1975–96) of USC's
Cebuano Studies Center, a pioneering local studies center in the
Philippines. Mojares has authored books on Philippine history, literature, and politics, including studies on three eminent Filipino intellectuals (
Pedro Paterno,
T. H. Pardo de Tavera, and
Isabelo de los Reyes). He has been a recipient of six
Philippine National Book Awards. His books include
The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu Province;
Aboitiz: Family & Firm in the Philippines;
House of Memory: Essays; and
Vicente Sotto, The Maverick Senator (Cebuano Studies Center, 1992). Mojares has been a visiting professor at
Kyoto University, the
National University of Singapore, and the
University of California at Los Angeles where he lectures on "The Philippine Novel" and "Topics in Philippine Cultural History". Mojares is writing the history of
Cebu Province for the
Cebu Town History Project. In 2019, Mojares was recognized as one of the Top 100 Cebuano personalities by
The Freeman, Cebu's longest-running newspaper. He was recognized alongside
Tomas Osmeña,
Max Surban, and
Rubilen Amit as part of the centennial anniversary of the local newspaper. ==Personal life==