Spotlight

Celebrity visitors–Celebrating past and future

Who’s a celebrity? Or what is a celebrity? Maybe everyone, at least those who celebrate history.

And so the exhibit continues, and many thank those who asked for an extension. We’ve had loads of eager visitors since as many have requested appointments through the foundation’s channels and requests conveyed to family and staff.

One day we get the glitter and grit of stalwarts we’ve come to know in journalism. It was the second time for Ces Drilon, and a first for Pinky Webb and Yvette Novenario, the latter currently the general manager of TicketWorld. Their guide was the exhibit’s curator, Karmina Constantino-Torres.

The women, busy ones each, come together periodically to break bread, to share insights and questions, celebrations of common people overcoming steep odds or leaders actually leading, as well as sadnesses encountered or anticipated as they witness governance fail or fall apart, and laughter, a lot of laughter, as citizens of [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T15:01:09+08:00July 30, 2025|

A former president visits Letizia

It was a lovely Saturday morning when Mohamed Nasheed dropped by to see the exhibit Letizia: A Life in Letters. He loved the exhibit so much he stayed for more stories exchanged over lunch and to enjoy the company of the family’s matriarch, Lourdes Balderrama Constantino.

Nasheed is currently the secretary general of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a 74-nation group of countries vulnerable to climate change. He was previously the president of the Maldives, an island nation facing global warming-induced challenges very similar to what the Philippines is experiencing.

Nasheed, also a former speaker of the Maldivian parliament called the Majlis, remains a storied figure in international climate and democracy issues. The Island President, a most gripping and colorful documentary was made about him – highly recommended – and it tells much more about the person, including more parallels with very recent Philippine history. Nasheed was the central figure [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T15:01:05+08:00July 29, 2025|

Building Bridges Through History: NHCP at Letizia: A Life in Letters

We were honored to host representatives from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines at the Letizia: A Life in Letters exhibit. The visit offered a meaningful occasion for scholarly exchange on historical memory, archival curation, and inclusive heritage interpretation. Through engaging dialogue over merienda, we explored avenues for collaboration and public-facing historical work.

The exhibit remains open for visits by appointment through this link: https://forms.gle/YYFDFJAfS1uejQ5Q9. We look forward to welcoming more scholars, educators, and heritage workers to the space.

RENATO2025-09-04T15:00:59+08:00July 23, 2025|

Letizia’s very much around

by Renato Redentor Constantino

It’s been nine years since Letizia Roxas Constantino passed away on 27 June 2016. But the memory of her life, and how and why she lived it to the fullest—it’s not only intact; we are determined to ensure it flourishes.

The exhibit, Letizia: A Life In Letters, is just one among many initiatives we have in store. The launch this August of a special hardbound edition of The Philippines: A Past Revisited, to mark the 50th anniversary since the book was published, is another. Renato wrote the book with Letizia, and how and why they did so is explained in a new introduction that comes with the book, along with a host of other lovely features.

When someone is called a writer, we tend to think of a novelist, a poet, or a journalist. Indeed, over so many decades Letizia wrote [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:50+08:00June 27, 2025|

In today’s Walking History column in The Manila Times, Prof. Xiao Chua highlights the life and legacy of Letizia Roxas – Constantino

Read Manila Times Article Here

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:44+08:00June 17, 2025|

Historian Xiao Chua recently visited the Letizia: A Life in Letters exhibit, offering insightful reflections on Letizia Constantino’s legacy.

SIR IS THE ARCHITECT AND MA’AM IS THE CARPENTER

Post Independence Day post.

Among the work of historians, one of the most towering text that tells of the Philippine struggle to stand on its own two feet was nationalist historian Renato Constantino’s The Philippines: A Past Revisited and the sequel co-written by his wife Letizia Roxas Constantino, The Philippines: A Continuing Past. In my first year in college, Dr. Carlos P. Tatel made it required reading where I learned the concept from Constantino of a “Usable Past.” Because of the college subject Readings in Philippine History, textbooks like these are relagated to supplementary reading.

Laging may speculation, although nirecognize naman ni Tato ang efforts ni Letty [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:39+08:00June 13, 2025|

Keepers of Memory

by Red Constantino

“[H]ow do we exist, save on the lips of our friends?” wrote Virginia Woolf to Molly MacCarthy on 11 June 1939. The day before, Woolf said, “you were absolutely incandescent.”

After three days of a pewter sky came sunshine.

Zachary See, an intellectual who hides the fact that he’s a baker of seriously lovely scones, and historian Ambeth Ocampo, strode into the Constantino Foundation compound the other week to see the exhibit, Letizia: A Life in Letters. They joined Girlie and Kartini Alampay, who had walked in minutes earlier.

It was the day before free public access to the Linangan Gallery ended. The exhibit’s visitors seemed gratified with their experience. Girlie and Kartini were certainly delighted to have their photos taken with Ambeth, Zach, and my mum Lourdes Constantino, Dudi to friends and family, [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:34+08:00June 12, 2025|

“Letizia Roxas Constantino, historian” by Ambeth Ocampo

Historian Ambeth R. Ocampo appreciated the exhibit when he dropped by the other week: “A recording of her playing the piano accompanied me as I walked through the exhibition. I felt like a child in a candy store, not knowing where to start or where to look.” If you fill up this form (https://forms.gle/YYFDFJAfS1uejQ5Q9) you [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:27+08:00June 7, 2025|

Letizia: A Life in Letters – Extended Viewing Opportunity

Thank you for your interest in the exhibit Letizia: A Life in Letters! Unfortunately, the period of free public access ended last 30 May. In response to persistent requests, however, visitors to the exhibit can still be accommodated, without charge, depending on the availability of foundation officers.

If you’re interested in visiting, please confirm your appointment by filling out the form below:

[READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:21+08:00June 3, 2025|

Visitors from far away!

It’s been almost two months and we’ve had so many delightful visits. From students to scholars, activists to advocates, poets and engineers, to parents, grandparents, journalists, photographers, government officials, and corporate officers. The visitors have been dazzling, curious, funny, introspective, and fully engaged.

Among the most special however are the visitors from far away, who braved the distance, heat, and road congestion just to see the exhibit. It’s been exhilarating and humbling to realize the sharing we’ve organized is received so warmly.

In a workshop on climate and Philippine history we held last year at the Linangan Gallery, participants travelled all the way from the Bicol region and Baguio to join the discussion in person. In the current exhibit, we’re experiencing similar efforts. It’s a great reminder of the lengths [READ]

RENATO2025-09-04T14:58:04+08:00May 30, 2025|