Stories

“𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐧𝐚, 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢 𝐤𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐨.”

Labing-limang taon na ang lumipas mula nang paslangin si Dr. Leonardo Legaspi Co ng 19th Infantry Battalion ng Armed Forces of the Philippines habang nagsasagawa sila ng kaniyang grupo ng siyentipikong pag-aaral sa kagubatan ng Kananga, Leyte. Kasama sa mga nasawi ay ang empleyado ng Energy Development Corporation na si Sofronio Cortez at ang magsasakang si Julio Borromeo. Samantalang sugatan ang kanilang mga kasamang sina Ronino Gibe at Policarpio Balute. Sa halip na protektahan sila, sila’y pinagkamalan. Isang krimen na hanggang ngayon ay pilit pang tinatakpan at pinalalampas ng estado.

Si Dr. Co ay hindi kalaban ng bayan. Siya ay isang botanistang nag-alay ng buong buhay para sa kalikasan. Isang mahusay na anak ng UP Diliman na may pambihirang talino at malasakit. Kabisado niya ang pangalan ng libo-libong halaman sa Ingles, Tagalog, at mga wikang katutubo dahil [READ]

RENATO2025-11-16T15:10:29+08:00November 16, 2025|

[STATEMENT ON LEONARD CO’S 15TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY] – UP Association of Biology Majors

Labinlimang taon na ang lumipas, ngunit nananatiling sariwa ang tanong: 𝗽𝗮𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝗵𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝗯𝘂𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗴-𝘂𝗻𝗮𝘄𝗮, 𝗽𝗮𝗴-𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗴, 𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝘀𝗮 𝗸𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗻?

Sa darating na Nobyembre 15, ginugunita ng UP Association of Biology Majors ang ika-15 na anibersaryo ng pagpaslang kay Dr. Leonard Legaspi Co at ang labinlimang taong laban ng kaniyang pamilya para sa hustiyang hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa naipagkakaloob.

Sa halos dalawang dekada, hindi masukat ang lawak ng ambag ni Dr. Leonard Co para sa larangan ng botanika sa ating bansa. Tinaguriang “foremost ethnobotanist” ng bansa, naitala niya ang higit-kumulang 10,000 uri ng halaman, bawat isa’y kaniyang inilarawan sa 129 na pananaliksik. Kaniyang inilathala ang “Medicinal Plants in the Cordillera Region” upang bigyang gabay ang mga pangkalusugang programa sa rehiyon. Pinangunahan [READ]

RENATO2025-11-16T14:04:51+08:00November 16, 2025|

LEONARDO CO: BAYANI NG BAYAN – Jerry B. Gracio

Dalawa ang iniingatan kong memorabilia ni Leonardo L. Co: isang drawing, at ang ilang bahagi ng kanyang manuscript tungkol sa Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, at Xingwei—the Traditional Concepts of Drug Nature in Chinese Medicine.

Si Leonard ang isa sa pinakamahusay nating botanist, nangunangunang ethnobotanist, marahil, ang pinakamahusay nating taxonomist. Nakilala ko siya habang nagtatrabaho sa isang NGO, naging kaibigan. Ang drawing at ang manuscript, parehong nasa scratch paper. Ayaw kasi niya na may nasasayang, nanghihinayang siya sa papel. Dahil ang papel ay gawa sa puno, mahal na mahal niya ang ating mga puno at halaman.

Pero hindi lang botanist si Leonard. Sa kanya ko unang narinig ang quote na “specialization is for insects,” na narinig ko rin, sa mas mahabang version mula kay Lean Alejandro kalaunan. At totoong hindi lang botany [READ]

RENATO2025-11-16T15:43:33+08:00November 16, 2025|

You are invited to the inaugural lecture of the Leonard L. Co Lecture Series!

📢 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐋. 𝐂𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

You are invited to the inaugural lecture of the Leonard L. Co Lecture Series!

🪴Branches of History: Trees, Empire, and Nation

🎙 Speaker: Dr. Ruel V. Pagunsan

Chair, Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman

🗓 November 21 (Friday)

🕝 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

📍 College of Science Auditorium, UP Diliman

Attendance is open to the public.

#LeonardLCoLectureSeries

RENATO2025-11-15T00:38:39+08:00November 10, 2025|

LAKAMBINI: When History Refuses to Stay Silent, by Cardinal Pablo Virgilo David (on a movie the Constantino Foundation encourages you to watch).

I must confess, when I sat down to watch Lakambini, I thought I was merely revisiting a historical figure I already admired — Gregoria de Jesús, the Lakambini ng Katipunan, wife of the Supremo. But I wasn’t prepared for what the film stirred in me. It felt less like watching history and more like being confronted by history — by the unfinished work of a nation still struggling to rise from betrayal and broken dreams.

Bakit ako interesado sa pelikulang ito? Dahil tubong Kalookan si Oryang, and I am presently the bishop of Kalookan. Ang Kalookan, para sa akin ay “bayan ng mga bayani” — and now, painfully, also bayan ng mga dukha, at simbahan din ng mga dukha. Our diocese became ground zero during the darkest days of the drug war. And in those years, I met women who reminded me of Oryang — widows like Mary Ann and Grace, [READ]

RENATO2025-11-15T00:29:52+08:00November 3, 2025|

Buga-Buga and the Burauen History Club By Bernard Karganilla

May the caves and slopes of Buga-Buga, once places of conflict, now echo prayers of harmony.’

AT the commemorative luncheon for the Leyte Gulf landings anniversary, Gregoria Equipaje Badeo shared her personal experience and her historical notes during the Japanese Occupation: “In Barrio Santa Ana, 13 men were burned to death…Luckily, one man (half-burned) was able to escape the torture and narrate the news to the neighborhood. But this man died, also.”

“The Guerrillas, very much in rage at the cruelties of the Japanese, paved their way to the Japanese garrison at Burauen North Central School. This encounter started in the last week of October 1942 and lasted for almost a week. Soldiers and guerrillas surrounded the garrison and blockaded the Japanese forces.” Mrs. Badeo’s testimony at the Leyte Convention Complex, Barangay Pawing, Palo is part of the permanent record of the Burauen History Club and the commemorative luncheon was sponsored by [READ]

RENATO2025-11-15T00:29:52+08:00October 24, 2025|

“The true Filipino is a decolonized Filipino.” — Renato Constantino

𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 | Echoing the powerful statement, Day 2 of PADAYON PAGBUKWAT HAN ATON MGA KAAGI: An International Lecture Series on World War II Leyte explored stories of heroism, resistance, and the enduring impact of World War II on the Filipino identity.

Broadcast journalist Anna Karmina B. Constantino-Torres, granddaughter of nationalist historian Renato Constantino, was among the keynote speakers. Representing the Constantino Foundation Inc., she emphasized the importance of historical truth, research, and the unending pursuit of facts, for the love of the Filipino people and the country. She also led the launch of the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Philippines: A Past Revisited by Renato Constantino and Letizia Roxas-Constantino, the famous Philippine History textbook written from a Filipino point of view.

Meanwhile, UP Manila Professor and writer Bernard Leo M. Karganilla introduced Guerilla Warfare 101: The Hunters-ROTC Guerillas to an audience composed mostly of students and educators. Prof. Marcelino M. Macapinlac Jr. [READ]

RENATO2025-11-15T00:29:52+08:00October 22, 2025|

Revisiting the Past: Karmina Constantino-Torres Launches 50th Anniversary Edition in Tacloban

Journalist and Constantino Foundation Trustee Karmina Constantino-Torres spoke at the history forum in Tacloban last October 18, where she delivered a paper and launched the 50th anniversary edition of The Philippines: A Past Revisited.

The event was organized by the Leyte-Samar Heritage Society, Inc., in partnership with the Republic of South Africa Embassy in the Philippines, Hunters-ROTC Historical Society, UP Tacloban, History NGO Forum for Peace in East Asia, the Province of Leyte, DOT–Eastern Visayas, the Office of Rep. Anna Veloso Tuazon, and the Constantino Foundation.

Held in commemoration of the 81st anniversary of the Leyte Landing, the forum featured international and Filipino speakers presenting lectures on World War II history and resistance narratives

[READ]

RENATO2025-11-15T00:29:52+08:00October 22, 2025|

HEROES IMMORTALIZED – Manila Times

People visit a comic art exhibit featuring Filipinas who transform into powerful modern-day superheroes. Dubbed ‘Alas ng Bayan 2.0,’ the stories reinterpret the legacy of Filipina resistance—from the 19th century to the present. The free admission exhibit opened at the Tandang Sora Women’s Museum in Quezon City on Oct. 17 and would run until Nov. 23, 2025. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE

Read Original Story Here

RENATO2025-11-15T00:29:53+08:00October 18, 2025|

Alas ng Bayan 2.0 Opening

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝟐.𝟎 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

📍 Tandang Sora Women’s Museum | October 15, 2025

📸 Photos by Bernard Testa

A powerful launch honoring the unbroken line of Filipina heroism—from Gregoria de Jesus, Apolonia Catra, Remedios Gomez-Paraiso, Lorena Barros, to Gloria Capitan. Curated by Rio Constantino and illustrated by Billy Pangilinan, the exhibit opened with reflections from the artist, curator, and families of the heroines.

Presented by the Constantino Foundation, in partnership with 350 Pilipinas and the Quezon City Tourism Department.

Open to the public Oct 16–Nov 23, 2025 | Tues–Sun | 9AM–4PM [READ]

RENATO2025-10-18T14:58:20+08:00October 18, 2025|