Una kong napanood ang Facts First ni Christian Esguerra back in 2024, soon after the SONA when PBBM boasted of more than 5,500 completed flood control projects nationwide and the very next night into the next morning, bumuhos ang katakutakot na ulan at bumaha nang bonggang bongga, waist- if not chest-deep, even in places that never used to flood, so reminiscent of Ondoy 2009. The following day a state of calamity was declared in all of Metro Manila, Bataan, Bulacan, Batangas, and Cavite.

Na-konfirm ang tsismis, nabuking, na walang epek ang flood control projects dahil puro substandard — halos kalahati kasi ng pondo ay luma-landing sa bulsa ng Congress proponents (Upper | Lower House),  DPWH district engineers atbp., at mga kontratista — o kaya’y “ghost” pala, as in, wala lang, kahit na-release ang pondo.

Miss na miss ko noon ang public affairs TV talk shows — yung tipong Tell the People ni Jullie Yap Daza, Viewpoint ni Dong Puno, Public Forum ni Randy David — na siguradong tatalakay sa krisis with resource persons capable of explaining  what’s going on and why.

Sa YouTube ako napadpad, and ran into “Facts and Fiction in President Marcos Jr.’s 2024 SONA” kung saan mga guest ni Esguerra sina Pulse Asia prez Ronnie Holmes, PNoy political adviser Ronald Llamas now of Akbayan, UP econ prof and ex-Finance USec Cielo Magno, and PR strategist Alan German na anak ni PR OG Reli.

Napa-blog ako noon: “SONAkakaduda #FactsFirst“. At the time, I felt like nakahanap ako ng kakampi.

Holmes, Llamas, and Magno are better informed than most, with a sense of the true state of affairs, past to present, and who clearly care about nation. German is a glib PR  tactician who always seems to know more than he’s telling and teases with tips on how-to-sell politicians, among other powertrippers. Host Esguerra, once of ANC, steers the talk with a GenZ’s take on national concerns that tends to provoke discussion, though only up to a point.

Unlike public affairs TV talkshows of yore, there’s a lot of banter, chortling, private jokes, whatever, between Esguerra and German, Esguerra and Llamas, apparently to keep the talk from getting too serious,  or maybe his followers like his GenZ sense of humor, I’m not sure. Whatever, it’s medyo nakaka-put-off, but the serious exchanges were | are worth staying for.  https://stuartsantiago.com/sonakakaduda-2024-factsfirst/

TWO YEARS LATER. Hindi nakakagulat na pinuputakte si Esguerra ng pro-BBM vloggers for saying some two weeks ago, in no uncertain terms, that the prez is either “tanga” or “kasabwat” vis a vis budget insertions atbp. Siyempre hinanapan siya ng resibo nina USec Claire Castro and Atty Rene Bueno kasi kung walang resibo, para lang siyang DDS vlogger calling the president “bangag”.

The problem, methinks, is Esguerra’s split socmed personality. When he said that about the prez, he was on vlogger mode, opinionating like a columnist and like most other vloggers and “content creators”, with a dash of taray (or patawa or pakwela or pa-shock), the better to get liked, shared, and subscribed to.  When he is doing interviews with resource persons – experts, academics, economists, scientists, etc. — and asking “hard questions”, he is on pa-objective journalist mode, out to clarify the facts and discredit disinformation re current issues and events. But when it’s just him and Llamas on tag-team mode, he’s mostly vlogger na tuwang tuwa sa sarili at kay Llamas.

But, as he has always insisted that he is not the usual vlogger because he is also a Journalist! as a result, every other vlogger holds him to that higher standard, including USec Claire. Coming from one who insists na hindi siya “kung sino-sino lang,” of course, papatulan siya, idi-dispute, hahanapan ng resibo. Even if he also sometimes says, pa-deprecatingly, or sarcastically, na “walang kakwenta-kwenta” ang podcast niya.

This is why I’m not convinced that the blowback vs Esguerra was coordinated, orchestrated, may nagtimon. Seemed quite spontaneous to me, the synchronous dismay of BBM vloggers who were following his podcasts, considering him a possible, undeclared, ally vs the DDS in the run-up to 2028. That is, until he made tira the president.

There are also political vloggers who really try to be neutral, airing both sides of an issue, and feeling free to be critical of both the VP and the President, depende sa isyu. Pero ang real revelation ay itong mga pro-BBM na bukás sana sa pakikipagkaisa sa mga PinkLawan vs. the DDS candidate in 2028. At tunay ang pagka-dismaya nila sa walang patumanggang hirit ni Esguerra vs the prez.

Bakit nga ba inihirit ni Esguerra yung “tanga… or… kasabwat” just then. Tracking back it seems (korek me if I’m wrong) that he was responding to criticism na he’s defending PBBM —  presumably from a pro-DDS troll or PinkLawan even? And it was his way of defending himself, using such absolute terms, no benefit of the doubt, as if to shout out, Anti-DDS ako! Anti-BBM ako!

Brave, yes, but not very bright. Because nagulantang ang mga pro-BBM: Ay, hindi pala kakampi! Ay, pinklawan kasi?! Whether spontaneous or orchestrated, damage has been done and Esguerra has only himself to blame. The OG sin was his choice of words. He laid himself wide open for that kuyog. Lalo na’t he refuses to apologize or take it back.

SAMANTALA his sparring pardner Llamas has been defending him — damage control kumbaga. In an exchange with Enzo Recto, he said Esguerra is a “significant journalist” who is not a member of any group:

LLAMAS: Na-a-identify lang siya dahil nga bumabanat siya sa mga Duterte. pero never siya naging miyembro ng kahit anong pink or yellow organization.

… Sa balanse ng puwersa, we are insignificant. wala tayong posisyon e. … Ako, puwede siguro ako ma-identify na pinklawan dahil chairman ako ng Akbayan. pero si Christian, wala namang organisasyon si Christian e. Bakit siya dinudumog. At bakit nila ire-reduce sa away between the reds and the pinks , the reds and the yellow …  Ang mahalaga dito, yung anti-Duterte.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFknIQVSZpY

Then at a gathering of vloggers to which Esguerra had not been invited because hindi naman siya personally kilalá ni birthday celebrant Marc Gamboa, kung saan umapir si Llamas, vlogger Batang Maynila Toits asked him about his frequent regular guesting on Facts First, what kind of talent fee is he getting, considering that Esguerra is raking in quite a fortune from You Tube.  Wala daw, no talent fee, so the pro-BBMs are scandalized. What!?! E kung hindi kay Llamas, makaka-700k subscribers ba si Esguerra?!? tanong nila, sabay shocked halakhak.

Why is Llamas doing it for nothing? Because it is NOT nothing, the free exposure he gets. Quits-quits lang sila. Esguerra gets Llamas as resource person on call for free. Llamas gets a platform to pontificate on politics, ideologies, corruption, dynasties, good governance, and everything else under the sun without paying for his own show.

To what end? Is he hoping to run for public office in ’28? Along with Esguerra, Cielo Magno, Barry Gutierrez, and Michael Mogato whom he has “endorsed” for the Senate not once or twice, hindi ko na alam kung nagbibiro lang siya. Nakakapagpatanong rin kung bakit, balita ng mga bubwit, si Leni pa rin ang kinukulit niyang tumakbo. Bakit ayaw niya kay Risa ng Akbayan mismo? Dahil ba hindi na siya makakaporma kung si Risa ang mapuwesto? Just asking.

And please, huwag naman tayo gawing tanga ni Llamas tungkol sa kulay ni Esguerra. Malinaw naman na magkakulay sila — dilaw at pink — at na okay lang kay Esguerra the vlogger-Journalist na hindi ungkatin o banatan ang dating boss ni Llamas na si PNoy. Obvious yan, pati sa BBM vloggers, na nagpípigíl lang, alang-alang sa 2028.