Constantino Foundation – Page 10 – Dedicated to a usable history, where lessons from the past are used to shape the future.

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TREES AND SEAS

There is a lot more to say about July 12, the day "an international tribunal invalidated China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea,”[READ]

FRIENDSHIP ACROSS GENERATIONS

The exhibit Pasts Revisited contains details about the intellectual collaboration and friendship enjoyed by Renato Constantino and Letizia Constantino with scholars over the years.[READ]

“Pasts Revisited” exhibit extended until July 31 by Flow Galindez

Visitors have more time to experience a unique intersection of history, art, and intellectual resistance, as the Constantino Foundation and Yuchengco Museum have officially[READ]

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Pagpupugay sa Pamana ni Antonio Kabigting Abad

Lovely opening of the exhibit on the life and works of Antonio Kabigting Abad, on the occasion of his 140th birth anniversary, August 13. Catch the exhibit curated by Ricky Celeste Ornopia, poet, researcher, and founder of Mind The Gap/Tingnan Ang Puwang. We thank the Philippine Collegian for covering the event and we extend our warmest greeting to our partners, the UP College of Arts and Letters Library and the Knights of Rizal-Blumentritt Chapter

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Pasts Revisited

Karina Constantino-David

Today, May 7, marks the passing of Karina Constantino-David in 2019. How is she remembered by so many? In the very words of a friend dear to her, Jurgette Honculada: “Karina Constantino David was blazing comet and blue flame, breaking ground in the 80s with Inang Laya songs, along with Becky Demetillo Abraham, that helped galvanize a generation of feminists and activists, lending form, structure and gravitas to NGO work through HASIK and its pioneering social action programs, infusing gender pedagogy with wit as in Peministang Pusoy (based on poker) and scalpel-sharp analysis as in the inverted cross encapsulating the varieties of female oppression or the typology of mushrooming NGOs which sifted chaff from grain, crossing over to public service in the late 90s, her NGO roots grounding her like a sixth sense, and, in the past few years, jolted out of retirement by a creeping and yet disarming malevolence, harnessing long-dormant reserves of power and creativity along with her fellow Lolas. . . Through song and thought, word and deed, you showed that love for one’s kabaro and kababayans is indivisible from love for Inang Bayan, honored only with a vow of forever.”

Image by Jaz Lopez Parado

#PastsRevisited #InangLaya

May 7, 2026|

Events

Videos

Stories

“???????????????? ????????, ???????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????.”

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[READ]

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

Labinlimang taon na ang lumipas, ngunit nananatiling sariwa ang tanong: ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-???????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????-????????????????????, ????????????-????????????????, ???????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????????? 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[READ]

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[READ]

You are invited to the inaugural lecture of the 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[READ]

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“One of the most towering texts of nationalist historiography — co-authored by Letizia Constantino, whose voice carried the struggle for true independence into classrooms and beyond.”

Michael “Xiao” Chua
Historian , On his column at The Manila Times
“Letizia Constantino: Nationalist historian, wife and mother” 2025 June 17
“At a low point in my life, I received a note from Letizia Constantino, unsolicited advice that encouraged me to keep writing. I never got to thank her personally for that pat on the back; this column is belated gratitude.”

Ambeth R. Ocampo
Historian, An excerpt from his column in Philippine Daily Inquirer
"Letizia Roxas Constantino, historian", 2025 June 06
“Taos pusong pagpapasalamat ng angkang Orosa for your inclusion of our Beloved Maria Y. Orosa in this PUP mural. Renato Redentor Constantino, we are ever grateful for this honor and recognition. Our forebears knew each other. Mine spoke highly of the Constantinos!”

Evelyn Orosa del Rosario Garcia
Great grand niece of Maria Y. Orosa and author of National Book Award winner
Appetite for Freedom: The Recipes of Maria Y. Orosa, with Essays on Her Life and Work.
"... A Past Revisited sparked a different kind of revolution, one that urged Filipinos to view history through our own eyes and experiences. Thank you very much to our dear friend, ABS-CBN’s Karmina Constantino, a resident of San Juan, for inviting me to be part of this historic occasion."

Mayor Francis Zamora
San Juan City Governor , On his speech at APR 50th anniversary edition launch at NHCP Museo El Deposito
2025 August 29
“We have been so wonderfully blessed in the past week by the presence of tremendously inspiring people, one of them, the one who likes to “shake trees”, is Sir Renato Redentor Constantino who moved the entire plenary to feel, think, and act… people couldn’t help but share and talk about the presentation. I told Sir Red that by the second day of the event, people realized there were ‘deeper commitments than professionalism.’”

Floraime Pantaleta
Executive Director, Ateneo Zamboanga-Mindanao Institute
"Thank you for having us ... We truly enjoyed ourselves. The exhibit was very inspiring, beautifully presented and so insightful. We were all so impressed. Hope we can use some of the material in our Women’s Museum. ❤️"

Mayor Joy Belmonte
Quezon City Governor, On her visit at Letizia: A Life in Letters Exhibit
2025 July 30
“Good read. At aliw. Ito ang kahapon na masarap balikan!”

Cherylle Lara Raguini
Subic civic leader, commenting on the foundation essay in ABS-CBN,
“Street names and the persistence of memory,” June 2024
“A Past Revisited was both a revelation and a challenge. It made us see the familiar narratives of Philippine history in new and unsettling ways. It invited us to ask deeper questions—about power, about colonial legacies, about the struggles and aspirations of our people. And it also gave us a sense of responsibility: to carry history forward not just as memory, but as a guide for action and transformation.”

Dr. Chas M. Navarro
Commissioner, National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP)
On his remarks at the launch of the 50th Anniversary Special Edition of The Philippines: A Past Revisited
2025 Aug 29
“Yes, third time [sila/Inang Laya] pumunta at kumanta sa rally sa Dasmarinas town plaza, sa parish church sa our Lady of Perpetual Help sa Dasmariñas Bagong Bayan and sa martsa rali ng mga maralitang lunsod from Dasmariñas to Bacoor na hinarang sumama at di sya [Karina Constantino-David] umalis hanggang kinabukasan.”

Ian Yaun
March 19, 2024
“Thank you very much, Constantino Foundation! It was a lovely afternoon spent learning about history, poetry, art, climate change, street names, the bicycles in revolution, kickass heroines, and much more! Renato Redentor Constantino’s talk and Renato Senior’s book A Past Revisited really got under my skin. Maraming salamat!”

Gege Cruz Sugue
Flips Flipping Books book club, 12 August 2024
“Renato and Letty kept the fire burning for country and people, fueled by their abiding love for each other and the cause they both pursued with single-minded devotion. In this sense, Renato and Letty may well be considered among the principal characters in one long epic love poem about the birthing of a free and caring society, still unfinished to this day.”

Dr. Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo
biographer, at the Pasts Revisited exhibit opening, Yuchengco Museum,
11 June 2026
“Frequented the area in the early ’80s because of Popular Bookstore (small door, beside the gate of Mapua High School), the only one that carried engineering books required for our course. It was still Martial Law… One buys … dangerous reading materials afraid of the Secret Marshals who were then infamous for salvaging (tokhang in the time of tatay digong) petty criminals and activists. Across Mapua High then was a parking lot of mini buses – now the Manila Grand Opera.”

Melvin Purzuelo
Iloilo environmentalist, commenting on the foundation’s history article in BusinessMirror,
“Cycling through the fabled history of an opera house, now a hotel,” June 2024.
“My first brush with Renato Constantino was through Mr. Herman Rochester, our 4th year high school adviser, who lent me his Miseducation of the Filipino. From then on I was hooked. In college, I encountered Parents and Activists, which helped me understand my parents’ objections to my activism, then his books A Past Revisited and A Continuing Past which made me learn history in a way that I was never taught in my elementary and high school years. His and his wife Letizia’s many articles, pamphlets, books and publications were guiding lights that stirred up the makabayan and palaban in me. Theirs was a writing that was nakakapagmulat at nakakataas ng pag-unawa.”

Teddy Casiño
Former Bayan Muna Representative, Facebook post
11 June 2026
“Mabuhay ka RC. Patuloy namin ikaw inaalala at ipinagdadasal sa lakbay mo ngayon. We will continue our conversations with family, even while you have left us. You will forever live in our hearts and we celebrate your life fully!”

Loretta Ann Rosales
Former member, House of Representatives
and former chair of the Commission on Human Rights

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Pasts Revisited

Karina Constantino-David

Events

Videos

Stories

“One of the most towering texts of nationalist historiography — co-authored by Letizia Constantino, whose voice carried the struggle for true independence into classrooms and beyond.”

“At a low point in my life, I received a note from Letizia Constantino, unsolicited advice that encouraged me to keep writing. I never got to thank her personally for that pat on the back; this column is belated gratitude.”

“Taos pusong pagpapasalamat ng angkang Orosa for your inclusion of our Beloved Maria Y. Orosa in this PUP mural. Renato Redentor Constantino, we are ever grateful for this honor and recognition. Our forebears knew each other. Mine spoke highly of the Constantinos!”​

"... A Past Revisited sparked a different kind of revolution, one that urged Filipinos to view history through our own eyes and experiences. Thank you very much to our dear friend, ABS-CBN’s Karmina Constantino, a resident of San Juan, for inviting me to be part of this historic occasion."

"Thank you for having us ... We truly enjoyed ourselves. The exhibit was very inspiring, beautifully presented and so insightful. We were all so impressed. Hope we can use some of the material in our Women’s Museum. ❤️"

“Good read. At aliw. Ito ang kahapon na masarap balikan!”

“Mabuhay ka RC. Patuloy namin ikaw inaalala at ipinagdadasal sa lakbay mo ngayon. We will continue our conversations with family, even while you have left us. You will forever live in our hearts and we celebrate your life fully!”

“Taos pusong pagpapasalamat ng angkang Orosa for your inclusion of our Beloved Maria Y. Orosa in this PUP mural. Renato Redentor Constantino, we are ever grateful for this honor and recognition. Our forebears knew each other. Mine spoke highly of the Constantinos!”