Constantino Foundation – Page 4 – Dedicated to a usable history, where lessons from the past are used to shape the future.

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’[READ]

RENATO & LETIZIA CONSTANTINO: A love supreme

By Pocholo Concepcion | July 2, 2026 THE lives of writers Renato and Letizia Constantino as husband and wife were so intertwined that they also[READ]

History, art, and intellectual resistance converge in ‘Pasts Revisited’ exhibit

July 1, 2026 · 12:24 AMConstantino Family with Yuchengco Museum director Jeannie JavellosaA combination of history, art, and intellectual resistance is on display at the[READ]

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KALAYAAN AND MACARIO SAKAY

The month of July is filled with many events that deserve commemoration. The founding of the Katipunan on its seventh day in 1892 is one, and the death of the great Aurelio Tolentino on July 5 in 1915 is another. But July 14 deserves prime place as well in national remembering.

On this day, Katipunan original Gen. Macario Sakay, President of the Republika ng Katagalugan, went down from the mountains on foot, accompanied by his officers Francisco Carreon, Leon Villafuerte, Julian Montalan, and Lucio de Vega.

[READ]

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Gregoria de Jesus

Ang kaarawan ni Gregoria de Jesus ay laging pagkakataong magnilay-nilay. Ang paraan kung paano naaalala si Lakambini ay salamin din kung paano natin tinuturing ang kababaihan. Dapat dinadakila si Oriang bilang rebolusyonaryong may sariling tindig, na may dangal at gumagamit ng dunong at tapang sa harap ng pananakot, kasakiman, at kalaswaan ng dayuhang kaaway at mga duwag na kababayan. Katuwang, kaibigan, at kadamay man ng mga mahal niya sa buhay tulad ni Andres Bonifacio at Julio Nakpil, babae siyang handang mamuhay ng nagsasarili, na may pananagutan sa kanyang sarili at sa kanyang bayan.

#LakambiningMandirigma #LakambiningDakila

#PastsRevisited

#FightLikeAGirl

May 9, 2026|

Events

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Stories

Binondo Day

We celebrate Binondo Day by sharing the post of a group that's very much involved in nation-building. As ignorance fuels hate, so must we feed our senses - with history. If you haven't tried one of their tours yet, we encourage you to seek them out. They're mostly young folks from different[READ]

Nothing New in the World

Renato Redentor Constantino, The Poverty of Memory: Essays on History and Empire (FNS-2006), p. 52-55 Nothing New in the WorldThe winding path the United States took to September 11th. “Memory says, ‘I did that,'” Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote. “Pride replies, ‘I could not have done that.’ Eventually, memory yields.” Three years ago[READ]

Day Two: Lester Rodriguez Leads Watercolor Workshop with Sagay Youth

Lester Rodriguez, distinguished artist from Binangonan, begins the day with a watercolor workshop with Sagay youth. It's a great platform - later, we'll lead a workshop with teachers on how to use art in appreciating and interrogating history and science.

Opening Daybreak of the 13th Nature Encounter Arts Month in Sagay

Sunrise just before the 13th Nature Encounter Arts Month Celebration opens in Sagay, Negros Occidental. Themed "Duta, Tubig, Hangin," the festival was initiated in 2013 by the celebrated artist Nunelucio Alvarado. Festivities commence early morning at the coastal spot of Kape Albarako, with body painting, dancing, performance art, and kites flying against[READ]

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“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.
“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
"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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Pasts Revisited

Gregoria de Jesus

Events

Videos

Stories

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

"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. ❤️"

“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."

“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.”

“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.”

“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!”