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

Spotlight

Karganilla on Constantino: Combatant, Journalist, Historian

We present today the Malaya column of UP Manila’s Prof. Bernard Karganilla, whose words one can see prominently on the wall of the Pasts[READ]

Opening Day at Y Space: Pasts Revisited

The opening day of #PastsRevisited was a happy blast. Here's a first batch of photos. Unless indicated otherwise, please credit the images to Giliw/Constantino[READ]

Pasts Revisited at Yuchengco Museum: Art, History, and Legacy

Over a hundred guests at the opening yesterday of #PastsRevisited. So many stories to share. Here's one: featured in the exhibit is original the[READ]

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Spotlight

The Philippines’ Past Revisited and Continuing Past: Usable History in Today’s Philippines

by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ ‎Prof. Rommel Banlaoi on July 3, 2026

Renato Constantino’s A Past Revisited and The Continuing Past remain profoundly relevant in illuminating the Philippines’ present political turbulence marked by the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, the collapse of the Marcos–Duterte alliance, and violent upheaval within the Senate. These developments have not only revived anxieties over institutional fragility that Constantino already analyzed[READ]

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Pasts Revisited

Renato Constantino

March 10 is the 106th birthday of the historian Renato Constantino. We share a warning he issued two years before the EDSA uprising against the dangers of merely replacing faces and names without changing the very economic policies that has kept our nation poor and underdeveloped. #RenatoConstantino #UsableHistory #aPastRevisited

March 9, 2026|

Events

Videos

Stories

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[READ]

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[READ]

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

???????????????? | 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[READ]

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[READ]

Loading...

“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.
"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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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.
“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
“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
“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
“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
"... 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
“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

Renato Constantino

Events

Videos

Stories

“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!”​

"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!”

“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.”

"... 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."

“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!”