Constantino Foundation – Page 9 – Dedicated to a usable history, where lessons from the past are used to shape the future.

Spotlight

Commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Pedro Abad Santos (1876–2026)

Image source: Mabuhay News On January 31 at Kamuning Bakery Café, Quezon City, the Pandesal Forum gathered scholars, family representatives, and public[READ]

PANDESAL FORUM at Kamuning Bakery Cafe

The Constantino Foundation invites the public to a Pandesal Forum commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Pedro Abad Santos, an important figure in the history[READ]

The Continuing Past of Pedro Abad Santos

by Renato Redentor Constantino (The essay was published first in ABS-CBN.) “If freedom is to be preserved, fascism must be destroyed at all costs.”[1] These[READ]

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The March of Contradictions

As we near the close of International Women’s Month, we feature the column of UP Manila Prof. Bernard Karganilla, who provides readers a view of affairs in the country from the lens of history. It has been a nation of contradictions indeed. Prof. Karganilla organized the concluding event to the exhibit Alas ng Bayan 2.0 with a seminar on Crisis Preparedness 2026 where the foundation’s managing director Red Constantino provided a closing lecture on the urgency of using historical thinking and the notion of a usable past in the face of growing global[READ]

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Pasts Revisited

Emilio Jacinto: Bayani ng mga Bayani

Nakataas ang baso at tasa para sa iyo, sa ika-150 araw ng iyong kapanganakan, dakilang intelektwal at makata na katuwang ni Supremo Andres Bonifacio.

Patnubayan mo ang bayang ninanakawan, ang bayang pinipilayan ng mga ganid, ang bayang malilimutin na pinipilayan ang sarili.

Hindi malayong kahit sa panaginip madalas kayong magsama ni Lean Alejandro, Pedro Abad Santos, at Remedios Gomez-Paraiso habang nagtatawanan, nalulungkot, at nang-uusig sa bayan niyong sinisinta.

Malamang nag-aalay din ng awit para sa iyo si Gloria Capitan sa videoke sa langit kasama ng mandirigmang Gregoria Lakambini.

Patuloy kang nabubuhay sa dibdib ng bawat mamamayang nagsasabuhay sa ikawalong kalatas ng Kartilya ng Katipunan na iyong sinulat: Ipagtanggol mo ang inaapi, at kabakahin ang umaapi:

Lahat ng lumalaban para sa isulong ang karapatan ng mga may kapansanan, ng mga bata, mga babae, mga senior citizen, ng LGBTQ community, at karapatan ng mga komyuter at mga siklista. Ang mga tagapagtanggol ng malinis na hangin at tubig para sa lahat, mga tagapagtanggol ng karagatan, kagubatan at katutubong halaman; mga lumalaban sa mga taong buwaya, sa pandarambong ng mga dayuhan, sa mga berdugo, sa mga politikong aksaya sa oxygen na walang hangganan ang katakawan.

Pangalan mo lang sapat nang gabay: Heneral Emilio Jacinto na kilala rin bilang Pingkian – mga bato na pag pinag-kiskis ay nagpapaliyab – at bilang Dimasilaw, na nagpapaalala sa atin sa panahong nahaharap sa matinding panganib ang bansa: huwag masilaw sa ningning. Ang hanapin ay liwanag, at sa paghahanap, wag matakot sa dilim.

* Ang imahe ay detalye mula sa mga mural ng grupong TutoK na kinomisyon ng Constantino Foundation noong 2007 bilang pagdiriwang sa buhay ni Macario Sakay at Lean Alejandro.

December 15, 2025|

Events

Videos

Stories

Opening Remarks and Reflections by Atoy M. Navarro | Area Studies Week 2025, UP Manila

Pambungad na Pananalita Atoy M. Navarro | UP Manila | 3 Oktubre 2025 Sa ating mga panauhin mula sa Constantino Foundation at Knights of Rizal at sa kaguruan at mga estudyante ng Area Studies Program (ASP), Master of Management (MM) Program, at Department of Social Sciences (DSS), isang malaya at mapagpalayang[READ]

A Night of Stories and Solidarity in Frankfurt

In Frankfurt last night, a welcome dinner at a Persian place for Atef Abu Saif, former Palestinian Minister of Culture, and Tarik Hamdan, Palestinian poet and journalist. Both will speak later today in a Palestine-specific session at the Philippine Pavilion. The night was organized by many, but we all took the lead[READ]

Alas ng Bayan Opens as The Constantino Legacy Resonates in Europe

As Alas ng Bayan 2.0 opened in Quezon City, the foundation was also speaking at the Frankfurt Book Fair in a panel titled The Constantino Legacy. We spoke of origin stories of elite rule in the Philippines, why the first fossil fuel-induced conflict was coal, preceding the 1970s oil crisis, and the[READ]

ATM: Opisyal nang binuksan sa publiko ang “Alas ng Bayan 2.0” sa Tandang Sora Women’s Museum! – Bandera

ATM: Opisyal nang binuksan sa publiko ang “Alas ng Bayan 2.0” sa Tandang Sora Women’s Museum!Present sa launch ang mga opisyal ng QC at mga kaanak ng mga kilalang Pinay icons na sina Gregoria “Lakambini” de Jesus, Remedios “Kumander Liwayway” Gomez-Paraiso, at Gloria Capitan.Aarangkada ang exhibit hanggang November 23. LIBRE ang admission![READ]

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"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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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.
“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.
"... 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
“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
“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

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Spotlight

The Foundation

Our Partners

Teacher Support

Pasts Revisited

Emilio Jacinto: Bayani ng mga Bayani

Events

Videos

Stories

"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!”​

"... 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."

“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!”