RENATO, Author at Constantino Foundation

Commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Pedro Abad Santos (1876–2026)

Image source: Mabuhay News

On January 31 at Kamuning Bakery Café, Quezon City, the Pandesal Forum gathered scholars, family representatives, and public historians to commemorate Pedro Abad Santos, a revolutionary leader and tireless advocate for workers and peasants. The discussion emphasized Abad Santos’s long-standing commitment to social justice: his leadership in the socialist movement, his advocacy for agrarian reform, and his legal and political work in defense of marginalized communities. Speakers recalled how he repeatedly sacrificed personal wealth and comfort to stand with the rural poor and organized labor, and how his anti-colonial and anti-fascist convictions shaped his public life.

Among those who spoke were Desiree Benipayo, who reflected on Abad Santos’s personal sacrifices and his legal aid to indigent farmers; Eufemio Agbayani III of the NHCP, who placed Abad Santos within the broader arc of [READ]

RENATO2026-02-02T16:44:43+08:00February 2, 2026|

Pedro Abad Santos

“If freedom is to be preserved, fascism must be destroyed at all costs.”

These are the timeless words of the hero Pedro Abad Santos, born 150 years ago on 31 January 1876. He was a fighter for the welfare of his people even early in his life.

Abad Santos stopped going to school to join the Katipunan, where he eventually held the rank of komandante or major. He fought in 1899 as the aide-de-camp of the great Gen. Maximino Hizon in the war against the invading American forces.

Pedro Abad Santos was “an elderly nationalist lawyer” from a landowning family in Pampanga. He was called “Don Perico” by his clients, “a term of both respect and endearment, the formality of ‘don’ and the familiarity of the nickname.” He offered “his legal expertise pro bono to protect the rights of peasants and workers, which composed a [READ]

RENATO2026-01-31T09:42:52+08:00January 31, 2026|

PANDESAL FORUM at Kamuning Bakery Cafe

The Constantino Foundation invites the public to a Pandesal Forum commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Pedro Abad Santos, an important figure in the history of Philippine social reform.

Featuring insights from Renato Redentor Constantino and Eufemio Agbayani III, with Wilson Lee Flores as moderator.

January 31, 2025 (Saturday)
10:00 AM
Kamuning Bakery Cafe, Quezon City

[READ]

RENATO2026-01-30T10:33:59+08:00January 29, 2026|

Pedro Abad Santos 150th Birth Anniversary Lecture

Dr Ian Christopher Alfonso gave a lecture yesterday worthy of the 150th birth anniversary of the revolutionary Pedro Abad Santos. We thank our co-organizers, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the UP Department of History, and the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Read More About The Lecture Here

RENATO2026-01-28T22:47:19+08:00January 28, 2026|

The Continuing Past of Pedro Abad Santos

by Renato Redentor Constantino

(The essay was published first in ABS-CBN.)

“If freedom is to be preserved, fascism must be destroyed at all costs.”[1]

These are the timeless words of the hero Pedro Abad Santos, born 150 years ago on 31 January 1876. He was a nationalist, a revolutionary, and a fighter who lived by the principles of the Katipunan’s Kartilya. To forget Abad Santos is to forget who we are and who we can still be as a people. Perhaps this is why so many feel so restive yet so lost today, adrift in a brutal ocean of political noise with no safe shore in sight. Divorced from our own history, we bob and roll with the waves without a rudder.

Apart from the work of theater and movie production crews in 2025, it is difficult to tell which national group or coalition organized public events last year [READ]

RENATO2026-01-28T22:02:28+08:00January 28, 2026|

We are honored to be part of an event honoring one of the country’s finest – and one of Pampanga’s greats – Pedro Abad Santos.

Join if you can, it’s free – but remember, first come, first served basis. Seats are limited! Lezzgo and let’s learn tons of insights together. It’s not everyday one gets to hear the compelling scholar, Dr. Ian Christopher Alfonso, speak. #aPastRevisited #MabuhaySiDonPerico [READ]

RENATO2026-01-28T22:42:25+08:00January 27, 2026|

🌱✨ A New Year, a New Celebration of Curiosity! ✨🌱

This January 2026, we highlight “Damayan” by Celine and Dennis Murillo, awarded 2nd Best Film in Indie-Siyensya, the pioneering science filmmaking competition of DOST-SEI. Their work reminds us how a nation is built, one mushroom at a time.

Their film draws attention to the hidden networks beneath our forests –the mycelial threads that connect and protect life. By bringing these unseen systems to light, Damayan shows how science and art together can deepen our understanding of ecology and spark curiosity about the world we often overlook.

For us, Damayan is a reminder that abundance is both fragile and resilient. Seeds, blooms, edible plants, and towering trees are not merely resources but part of a living cosmos that calls for care and respect.

It’s about the science of art, [READ]

RENATO2026-02-03T17:02:33+08:00January 18, 2026|

A LIGHT THAT REFUSES TO BE DARKENED

By Wilson Lee Flores | December 14, 2025

Between the dangerous, dazzling “ningning” (glitter) of false promises & the steady, guiding “liwanag” (light) of truth—which do we choose?

Last December 12, at 87-year-old #KamuningBakery Cafe, the non-partisan #PandesalForum honored the 150th birth anniversary of the fierce, brilliant hero #EmilioJacinto—the “Brains of the #Katipunan.”

There, the powerful words of Jacinto’s timeless essay, “Ang Ningning at Ang Liwanag,” were given voice by LIRA Chairman & @ateneodemanilau Professor @abnerdormiendo. This poignant event, suggested by historian & environmentalist @red.constantino of the @constantinofoundation, was a living testament to ideas that refuse to die.

Jacinto’s warning is urgent: to reject the seductive glitter of #corruption & choose the purifying light of integrity.

Today, as moral ambivalence & systemic #corruption shadow our society in the #Philippines, his call is not history—it is an urgent manifesto. We do not need more cynics. We [READ]

RENATO2025-12-17T14:09:26+08:00December 17, 2025|

Emilio Jacinto: Bayani ng mga Bayani

Nakataas ang baso at tasa para sa iyo, sa ika-150 araw ng iyong kapanganakan, dakilang intelektwal at makata na katuwang ni Supremo Andres Bonifacio.

Patnubayan mo ang bayang ninanakawan, ang bayang pinipilayan ng mga ganid, ang bayang malilimutin na pinipilayan ang sarili.

Hindi malayong kahit sa panaginip madalas kayong magsama ni Lean Alejandro, Pedro Abad Santos, at Remedios Gomez-Paraiso habang nagtatawanan, nalulungkot, at nang-uusig sa bayan niyong sinisinta.

Malamang nag-aalay din ng awit para sa iyo si Gloria Capitan sa videoke sa langit kasama ng mandirigmang Gregoria Lakambini.

Patuloy kang nabubuhay sa dibdib ng bawat mamamayang nagsasabuhay sa ikawalong kalatas ng Kartilya ng Katipunan na iyong sinulat: Ipagtanggol mo ang inaapi, at kabakahin ang umaapi:

[READ]

RENATO2026-01-28T12:53:07+08:00December 15, 2025|

Tambay na sa #MaginhawaArtsandFoodFestival.

With 350 PH and Justice for Leonard Co as neighbors, we open!

RENATO2026-01-28T12:54:58+08:00December 13, 2025|

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