JOURNALIST and political commentator Christian Esguerra called out the takedown of an online episode of a youth public affairs show under Catholic organization Caritas Philippines on Monday, June 1.
In a Facebook post, Esguerra questioned the “internal editorial guidelines and basic values of Caritas Philippines,” which the Catholic organization cited as the supposed reasons for the removal of the episode of “YSpeak 2.0.”
“It’s easy to preach ‘civics’ in the comfort of an air-conditioned studio. But the true test comes when things become uncomfortable and fear, whether real or imagined, sets in,” Esguerra wrote in the post.
Fr. Tito Caluag, executive director of Caritas Philippines, said in a statement on May 31 the episode was removed and did not air as scheduled on May 30 over station ALLTV2, citing his editorial judgement.
“The other consideration was to focus on and strengthen our online presence where most of the youth are,” Caluag said.
In the censored episode aired online on May 23, Esguerra participated in a segment “YSpeak Your Mind,” where he was shown images of political figures and then asked to describe them using one word.
Esguerra called Vice President Sara Duterte “evil,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros “decent, and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta as “Tsinador” (pro-China senator). He also referred to Pasig Mayor Vico Sotty as “promising.”
“It’s also ironic that during my guest appearance, I discussed how self-censorship is ‘the worst form of censorship’ — which is exactly what the producer did,” Esguerra wrote in his social media post.
YSpeak 2.0 is a public affairs debate show by ABS-CBN in partnership with Caritas Philippines.
The hard-hitting Esguerra, a long-time journalism faculty member of UST and former editor in chief of the Varsitarian, left ABS-CBN in March 2022 amid heavy pressure on the network by the Duterte regime, which had caused the non-renewal of its broadcast franchise.
Esguerra shifted to podcasting and now hosts the widely followed “Facts First,” a nightly political talk program.
ABS-CBN airs programs over ALLTV2, whose frequency it formerly owned but was bought by the Villar family in 2022.
