Renato Constantino Jr., also known as RC, was a courageous activist who played a key role in game-changing campaigns in the Philippines. His tireless activism and rock-steady principles made him a respected figure in the country.
RC Constantino’s urn stands at the center of a fitting tableau backdropped by a mural of Filipino patriots, at his wake at the Constantino home in Quezon City, where he lies in state until 10pm of April 10. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Think September 1991, when the Philippine Senate voted to end the US bases treaty. RC was there, or more important, before the vote, when so many protests were waged and lobbying conducted to win the hearts and minds of people. It had a simple goal: to awaken an amnesiac world that in Southeast Asia, a sliver of an island nation called East Timor had been illegally annexed by regional giant Indonesia, and its bravest men and women were waging a nearly two-decade campaign for freedom.
Not one to be daunted, RC Constantino led organizers in strategizing how to go around the FVR-imposed ban. While lawyers questioned its constitutionality in the Supreme Court, RC’s group decided to hold the watershed conference at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, the best venue for freedom fighters. It was “defiance” written in capital letters.
In East Timor’s case, however, the attention generated by APCET, while indispensable to their struggle, did not yield immediate results. It took about five more years after APCET, before the independence campaign would come to a head, making East Timor a free country on the eve of a new millennium.
Renato Constantino Jr. RC Activist Philippines Campaigns Courage Principles
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