Facts First

This episode explains why it's important for Filipino voters to define this early the issues that matter to them and scrutinize politicians positioning themselves in next year's presidential election. Writer, teacher, and activist Walden Bello joins Christian Esguerra in an in-depth discussion.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/THEREALBATTLE-AUDIO.mp3

There was no letup in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war despite the pandemic. But a group in the city of Caloocan still found a way to continue a promising community-based drug rehabilitation program by going online during the lockdown. Christian Esguerra sat down with project leader Bok Labastilla in this episode.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FFP-LABASTILLA.mp3

Why is the Philippines now struggling with a new wave of COVID-19 infections, the most number of active cases in Southeast Asia? In this episode, former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral explains what the government failed to do during a critical period in August 2020, and why this whole problem ultimately comes down to leadership and governance, with President Rodrigo Duterte treating the pandemic “in a very cavalier way.”

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A newly created region in the southern Philippines is set to hold its first parliamentary elections in 2022. But its leaders are pushing to postpone this democratic exercise until the region’s transition is well in place.

Benedicto Bacani of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, and Pancho Lara of International Alert join Christian Esguerra in this episode.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Ep-12-Audio.mp3

In this episode, Christian Esguerra sat down with key figures in the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on the challenges of building strong political parties ahead of the first-ever elections in the region.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ep-11-Audio.mp3

In this special #BangsamoroSeries episode, Christian Esguerra sits down with former election commissioner Luie Tito Guia, who explains the parliamentary elections set in the new Bangsamoro region in the southern Philippines in May 2022.

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Lawyer Christian Monsod, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission which drafted the current Philippine constitution, sits down with journalist Christian Esguerra on how to fix the country's Party-list System and how to attract more foreign investments -- all without having to amend the constitution.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Episode-9-Fixing-Party-list_1.mp3

In this special #BangsamoroSeries episode, Christian Esguerra sits down with Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who's campaigning against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's push to remain in power for 3 more years as leaders of a new autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao. The governor, whose province wants to bolt the region, questions the leadership and competence of the former rebels, who signed a landmark peace accord with the Philippine government in 2014.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sakur-Tan.mp3

Burdened by high expectations, former Muslim rebels are pushing for a 3-year extension to complete the transition of a new autonomous region under their peace agreement with the Philippine government. They cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and difficulties in running the interim regional government. Christian Esguerra sits down with a member of the Bangsamoro Parliament and a Mindanao peace advocate in this special #BangsamoroSeries episode.

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https://factsfirstpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bangsamoro-Transition.mp3

This week's episode tackles the challenges of covering President Rodrigo Duterte, with his propensity to spew untruths and go ballistic in his late-night public address, his pronouncements often needing his spokesman's "clarification" or justification afterward. Christian Esguerra engages in some real talk on how the Philippine press has been reporting on Duterte with Rapper's Pia Ranada in this crossover podcast.

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