RENATO, Author at Constantino Foundation

A Poet’s Gift: Ramon Sunico’s Watercolor Pipe at Pasts Revisited

Some Christmases ago the poet Ramon Sunico gave the foundation’s managing director a lovely gift – a watercolor rendition of an Igorot pipe. The painting is now displayed on the very desk Renato Constantino used when he was a young writer, a fitting addition that comes with a dedication true friends will smile at. Past the desk is Renato with his pipe, and even more pipes on display, and the red sabong painting by Vicente Manansala.

Come see the exhibit people have been raving about. Pasts Revisited: An Exhibit on A Usable History and the Romance of Renato Constantino and Letizia Roxas Constantino, 11 June to 11 July 2026 at the Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Ave. corner Gil Puyat Ave. The museum is closed on [READ]

RENATO2026-06-17T15:57:18+08:00June 17, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

Post-Liberation Blues: The Left and the Collapse of South Africa

A compelling discussion from one of the most astute and articulate chroniclers of South Africa and its ties to the continent, including the South African Left. Limited seats – first 20 to register. Bilis! Lunch and refreshments served. (After the meal we’ll have a discussion on dried African bush meat and fermenting chillies.)

Tristen Taylor has a PhD in Aristotle’s economics and is a Research Fellow at the Unit for Environmental Ethics, Stellenbosch University. Tristen is a South African journalist and photographer. He was formally the director of the South African environmental organisation Earthlife Africa JHB from 2008 to 2016. In November 2021 he was shortlisted for the Fetisov Journalism Awards for Outstanding Investigative Reporting. Tristen won the 2022 Superscrieri press prize and the 2023 Dejan Anastasijević Annual Award for Investigative Journalism. In 2024, he received an honourable [READ]

RENATO2026-06-17T15:45:53+08:00June 17, 2026|

Welcome Remarks by Renato Redentor Constantino, Managing Director of the Constantino Foundation

(Delivered at the Opening of Pasts Revisited 11 June 2026 | Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, Makati City)

Happy Pride Month, everyone! I want to start by saying it’s not enough to just say love is love. We must protect and actively support the LGBTQ community.

There is so much to say about the life and work of the two Filipinos honored here. Thankfully, they left for us an entire republic of letters. Their words and images in this exhibit speak for them, along with those shared by the dearest of their friends, such as Dr. Inday Pineda-Ofreneo, poet, feminist scholar, and biographer of Renato Constantino, and Prof. Bernard Karganilla, a student of Renato and Letizia, and Tita Princess Nemenzo, another ageless feminist icon who, like Tita Inday, was a friend of four Constantino generations, from the originals [READ]

RENATO2026-06-17T11:07:31+08:00June 17, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

A Usable Love by Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo

(Remarks by Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo during the opening of the exhibit on “Pasts Revisited,” Yuchengco Museum, 11 June 2026)

The writings of Renato and Letizia Constantino embody their partisanship, their passion for justice and freedom, their devotion to a vision that is both beautiful and illuminating. And if we get to know the partnership of husband and wife behind the partisanship, we can see a mirroring of sorts – love of country made stronger and firmer by love for each other, the family that sprung from that love, and the close circle of a “few loyal friends,” as Renato described them.

Today, I have the unenviable task of describing in three minutes, a “romance” which spanned more than half a century. Having served as [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:57:58+08:00June 16, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

Message from the Curator By Ninel Constantino

In design, perhaps the most difficult pursuit is honesty—honesty in the use of line, shape, and color; honesty in the orchestration of balance, harmony, and movement; and, above all, honesty in service of the subject itself, revealing its essence without obscuring it beneath ornamentation or borloloy.

When the opportunity arose to tell the story of Renato and Letizia—their enduring legacy, their life’s work, and the profound imprint they have left on all of us—and to mount this exhibition at the Yuchengco Museum, no less, I was filled with both awe and anxiety. The circular space was in itself a challenge! But more importantly, how does one begin to contain the breadth of two lives so richly lived, or do justice to the depth of their contributions?

This exhibition is the result of many hands and generous hearts. Through the guidance, vision, and words of my brother [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:57:59+08:00June 15, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

National Artist Virgilio Almario Writes on the Constantinos’ Legacy of Activism

Mabuhay! Mula kay Virgilio Almario, Pambansang Alagad ng Sining: AKTIBISMONG NASYONALISTA, na unang lumabas sa pahayagang Filipino Ngayon, sa loob ng kanyang kolum na Sarì-Samot!

AKTIBISMONG NASYONALISTA

ni Virgilio Almario

NITÓNG NAKARAANG HUWEBES, Hunyo 11, binuksan sa Yuchengco Museum ang ekhibit na Pasts Revisited, isang handog ng Constantino Foundation sa alaala ng mag-asawang Renato at Letizia Constantino.

Siyempre, naroon si Red, ang tagapangasiwa ng foundation, at mga pamilya nina Karina at RC, dalawang anak ng mag-asawang historyan para magbukás ng exhibit. Naroon din ang mga tagahanga, estudyante, at kaibigan nina Tato at Letty. Naroon siyempre ang magandang curator ng museo, si Jeannie Javellosa, at nag-aanyaya ng mga exhibit ng writers at artists.

Napakaganda ng exhibit. Tasteful, [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:57:59+08:00June 15, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

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 Revisited exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum: “Renato Constantino was a combatant in the anti-fascist world war, a journalist, and a historian. He made history, witnessed history, and wrote history.” Karganilla would know; he was a long-time student of Renato as well as Letty, and he became a much loved friend of the two historians.

With Prof. Karganilla’s words we feature as well as his wedding photo, with his late wife, Anita, who was much loved by the Constantinos, a love that extends to the second and third generations. In the wedding pic, Renato Constantino is standing to the left of Prof. Karganilla. In the other photo is history scholar Prof. Raymund Ciriaco, who was [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:57:59+08:00June 14, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

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 Foundation. If the stories and artifacts we’ve displayed generate new insights, provide interesting perspectives, and make visitors remember, then the exhibit #PastsRevisited has done what it was intended to [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:58:00+08:00June 13, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

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 desk and chair Renato used as a young writer. The first book you’ll see is Vestiges of War, which was put together by Angel Velasco Shaw, the beaming woman in the photo with the foundation’s managing director Red Constantino. Red describes the book as “both might and beautiful the way it wove together art, history, and culture, politics driven by the book’s subject – the Philippine-American War and the aftermath of an imperial dream [READ]

RENATO2026-06-16T22:58:00+08:00June 12, 2026|Tags: PastsRevisitedExhibit|

Renacimiento Manila (RM) at the Linangan Gallery of the Constantino Foundation

Yesterday, Renacimiento Manila (RM) held their general assembly at the Linangan Gallery of the Constantino Foundation. RM is a heritage advocacy group comprised of young Filipinos determined to protect our nation’s legacy, propagate awareness of the colorful past in our natural and built urban environment, and promote historical thinking. They conduct some of the most compelling, interactive, and informative tours in Manila today and they run campaigns as well to care for historic structures, native trees and plants, and the memory of our people’s patrimony.

They are truly radical, if [READ]

RENATO2026-06-10T14:10:54+08:00June 8, 2026|

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AKTIBISMONG NASYONALISTA