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Alright mga kameta, kamusta kayo diyan? Good Monday, Good New Month, Good June.

Mabilisan lang, I just wanted to make kind of a semi-vlog intervention dito because over the weekend it looks like there was slight misunderstanding about a number of things.

But at the same time of course we wanted to also highlight itong bagong website at donation platform na na-launch ng Angat Buhay.

And of course this is important in light of yung previous diskusyon natin ukol dito sa kahalagaan ng alternative platforms for making sure na malakas pa rin yung civil society, grassroots movements, etc.

So I'll be very quick about this mga kameta and I felt it's very important to get this clear and to get this out.

Just to clear the air. Now unang-una, I'm glad that our good friends like Raffi Magno who actually heads the Angat Buhay Foundation made a very timely and important clarification the other day.

Over Sunday kasi yata mga clarification na yan. Alam nyo naman mga kameta pag Sabbath Day, Sunday, I don't engage online as much as possible because it's supposed to be your spiritual day.

At least whatever your religion or faith is, at least give one day away from all of the noise and all of the rat race outside there.

My clarification, as far as the Angat Buhay new website is concerned, this is not something that was just made up overnight.

This was not just something in response to the Maharlika Fund and that this has been in the works for many months.

And this is, of course, strictly for an NGO private foundation purposes. So let's be absolutely clear about that mga kameta.

Because it looks like unfortunately there are a lot of people who have been giving kind of a wrong angle to this.

So to be very clear, the Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund is a sovereign wealth fund. So para sa ating bansa yan, it's a sovereign wealth fund.

Now, the Maharlika aspect obviously makes it directly attached to the legacy of the Marcos family. So clearly we can see the political aspect there.

So there's no point in making sabong between Angat Buhay and a sovereign wealth fund. They're two very different things.

And as I clarified earlier, if my impression na ganito dun sa mga tweets natin or in my intervention on social media, let me absolutely make it clear.

Now, obviously we're talking about two very different things. Let me clarify though that and just to be honest and clear about this.

Over the weekend, marami tayo mga sinabi okul sa kalaga ng isang good governance fund. Not a sovereign wealth fund, a good governance fund.

And we had a number of responses online and one of that came from a good friend of us, Enrico, who's also a professor or he teaches at UPL.

He's an investment bank expert guy. And he said, well, diba ang genuine Angat Buhay Foundation, so maybe that is a form of good governance fund.

So it was in that context na we discussed the importance of Angat Buhay as a kind of a civil society grassroots driven dimension to pushing for good governance of the Philippines on a broader scale.

So yun yung context. Now, let me be absolutely clear about this mga kamay-ta because one of the things I'm noticing out there is the horrible level of toxicity online emanating from certain circles out there.

Now, obviously sometimes out of a thousand tweets, we make some sort of lighthearted jokes, etc. Sometimes you have a clear emoji there, right?

Which signals? Which signals? Irony? A bit of sarcasm, etc. So it's quite disappointing to see that there's some people out there who are trying to cancel us by trying to portray us as...

I mean, first of all, these people either are not witty enough. Second, they're not subtle intellectually enough to get things. And third, it looks like a lot of them are haters.

Now, I exactly know where a lot of these people are coming from. So as soon as the Sabbath day was over, we had a chance. Early morning, I responded properly. I clarified.

I said that, congratulations to Rafi and Tiwala Damat Buhay. You know, in no sense, we were trying to say that this was our idea. There was an emoji there that was a self-irony.

Remember yung context ng tarantadong kalbo who kind of tried to make it look as if nag-credit grab tayo. You know, a lot of cheap shots happened over the past few months.

And I was patient enough to just take them as sport, right? Sport tayo, diba? You dish it in, you dish it out, you get it back, right? Gets ko yan.

But my sense right now is this, that there are people out there who are trying to cancel us, mga kameta, precisely because we have exposed the nonsense nature of their understanding of Philippine politics.

Alright. These are the same people, mga kameta, who are still in this toxic, bitter mode whereby they either want to just blame the voters, they claim monopoly on truth and progressive values.

Their argument is support lang kayo, wag kuda, right?

And ito yung mga tao na hindi natuwa dun sa mga katulad natin who exposed the paucity of their understanding of Philippine politics, of the electorate, and the moral and ethical implications of that.

So, mga kameta, I don't know. And I'll be very honest about this. Okay, I'll be very, very honest about this.

I keep on hearing that there are people in the opposition who say, oh, you don't understand. We are the one in the ring taking all the punches.

Well, let me be absolutely clear about this. All of us have been taking punches over the past few years or so.

For some of you who have bothered to be on my page, 2017, 2018 pa lang, kitang-kita nyo every day we have been attacked, we have been trolled, we got death threats, we got legal harassment, day after day for five, six years.

So, first of all, let me be absolutely clear that no one has a monopoly in terms of resistance, no one has a monopoly in terms of truth and progressive values, and no one has a monopoly in terms of standing up to the worst things out there.

So, let me be absolutely clear about that. So, I don't appreciate the impression being given out there that, oh, kami nandito, kayo sa labas, support lang kayo, wag kayong kuda.

Now, gladly, I clarified with some of our good friends that that's not what they're thinking, but the impression I get from some people online is that that's what they're trying to say here, that sila lang nasa front line, kami lahat nasa labas, kuda lang kami ng kuda, wala kayong karapatan.

Well, guess what? We, under our own names, fought for truth and democracy and decency in this country, alright?

Let's be very clear about this. So, ayaw kayong kuda dyan na kami lang ganito.

Let's be also absolutely clear that when it comes to progressive politics and progressive values, no offense, but there are many more progressive people out there who didn't make it to the front of mainstream Philippine politics.

And then, as I also mentioned, there are people like Riz Antiveros out there who are far more progressive than a lot of people who are positioning themselves as opposition, and I believe these people are not getting as much support as they deserve.

And, in fact, my article tomorrow for Philippine Daily Inquirer looks at Riz Antiveros' singular struggle.

Now, let me also make it absolutely clear that I completely understand the difficulties that a lot of our friends are facing in the opposition, right?

As much as I also understand a lot of frustration that a lot of our friends have with the opposition in the Philippines, right?

Now, and this is precisely why, mga kameta, we have had vlogs, articles, a lot of interventions to explain to you the context of democratic struggle sa Thailand, sa Turkey, Russia, many, many other countries around the world.

Now, I understand the opposition is having a hard time in the Philippines. I understand they're facing a lot of harassment, etc.

But please lang, let's put things into context. Look at the situation that people like Navalny have been facing in Russia, right?

Look at what the Thai opposition has had to face. They even won the elections, and yet they still cannot form the government because they're being sabotaged by the military and the on-front regime.

Look at the situation in Turkey, what they had to deal with. Someone as able as Erdogan was 10 times smarter and more willy than Tatay Digong, and yet they were able to come together and fight against all odds and bring it to 48-52% split, right?

So, let me also make it clear na, yes, I understand the difficulties the opposition is facing in this country, but let's not forget, you are in a historic position to fight for a better democracy in the Philippines.

And don't forget that your situation is still way, way better than a lot of people in other democracies that we have been discussing, or besieged democracies that we have been discussing.

So, there's nothing uniquely exceptional about your situation, right? So, let's put things into perspective, alright?

And that is why constantly, mga kameta, pinag-usapan natin in case of Thailand, Turkey, Russia, etc. I mean, go and bother to watch what Navalny in Russia has had to face, alright?

No one came even close to that. The closest person I can think of is actually someone who's not been given as much attention over the years.

I mean, a little bit more right now, but it should be over time. I'm talking about, of course, Senator Delima, right?

So, I don't appreciate the tone coming out sometimes out there which is, oh, we're here on the front line facing all the mess, wag kayong kuda, ganito.

Excuse me, let us put things into context. First of all, hindi lang kayo. Second, a lot of us actually have been fighting under our own name, ourselves, not working for someone else, etc.

Ourselves fighting on the front line, right? Pangalawa, you're in the opposition. You're fighting the fight and if you're fighting a good fight, it is what it is.

And your situation is not exceptionally bad compared to what a lot of people are facing in Thailand, in Malaysia, in Turkey, in Russia, so on and so forth.

And I'm, by the way, talking about besieged democracies or semi-democracies. I'm not even talking about fully authoritarian systems out there, right?

Okay. Now, number three, and this is where I think this is very important. Sorry, this is real talk. We have to be very honest about this because I think there's a lot of nonsense out there that we have to call out.

Now, over the past year, probably I was among few who dared to call out a lot of nonsense out there.

And also call out a lot of these toxic, trawlish accounts out there who are giving an absolutely bad name to the opposition, right?

Who are so toxic that they're turning off a lot of people and pushing a lot of people to political demobilization, right?

And at the same time, I also called out this almost obsessive focus on, let's just call it supply side of our democratic crisis, which is disinformation.

I always said, the problem with that approach is that you're not also looking at why a lot of our voters are turning away from liberal politics in the Philippines.

Now, maybe some don't want to do that because they'll realize that a lot of people are turning away from liberal politics because of kapalpakan na nangyari in the past and kapulangan na nangyari in the past, or some people are invested in that form of analysis.

So we dared enough to call this out, right?

Because my sense was that calling out should have come from their own leadership, from leaders of the opposition.

In an ideal world, the leaders of the opposition themselves would have called out these toxic accounts and people because they clearly know they're not doing the right thing.

They're turning off a lot of people, they're giving a bad name to the movement.

And the good thing is, ako, sport ako, right?

And the good thing is, I'm not like many others out there who are so sick and tired of these trolls and toxicity out there that they are turning to the other side.

They're turning to the other side.

Or they're just switching out.

They're just saying, forget about this.

It's a hopeless case.

So going back again, mga kameta, my point is this.

If we make certain comments out there, sometimes they're born out of frustration.

Sometimes they're born out of exhaustion.

And sometimes they're just us trying to put some humor and sarcasm there, which obviously a lot of people are not appreciating.

But those who are trying to cancel us, who are trying to portray us as we're trying to this and that, you are the very people behind why the opposition has not been doing very well.

And if these people are not called out, these people are not putting the right place, kawawang opposition sa Pilipinas, at good luck na lang sa future of democracy in the Philippines.

Because my argument is this.

Whether you agree with the opposition or not, you need a kind of a yin-yang situation there to have a stable, optimal democracy.

Because if you have just a single party, single coalition rule forever, that is inevitably going to have some deleterious impact on your democracy.

So I just hope people appreciate where we're coming from.

So I make jokes here and there.

We wear like, I don't know, football stuff.

I don't know.

Sabi nung isang fashion designer na, wag naman hip-hop, hip-hop.

Hindi naman tayo hip-hop eh.

Football yan. Ibang culture yan.

Hindi yan hip-hop.

And we do that.

But at the end of the day, we're absolutely serious people here.

We're not joking around.

We're not messing around here.

So for some of those people out there who are thinking we're just, you know, I just want to remind you, we're absolutely serious people here.

And we have no regrets with calling out a lot of nonsense out there.

And also thank you to some good friends of ours who behind the scenes expressed their sincere concerns or they felt that we're being unfair.

And as I said, I never mind saying, I mean, apologizing if I feel I unnecessarily put anyone in the bind.

And in the context of the Angat Buhay case, I'm glad that there was a clarification that this is a private, grassroots, civil society NGO initiative that has been thought out for months.

And this is not out there to compete with a sovereign wealth fund, Maharlika named or whatever.

So I'm glad those clarifications are out there.

And let me reiterate that kind of clarification.

I also wanted to also make it clear to people saan galing itong mga interventions natin.

Why are we making all of these vlogs?

Why are we making all of these articles?

Why are we writing all of these things?

Why are we explaining all of this?

Why do we bother?

Right?

I have a whole world of, you know, geopolitics out there in terms of my academic work, in terms of my writing.

I mean, but the reason why I care about Philippine politics, the reason why we're making these vlogs, the reason why we try to be a little bit silly here and there,

is because we understand that the struggle for a better democracy in the Philippines is not only Jan's elections.

It's also for the hearts and minds of people and particularly for a proper discourse about major policy issues affecting our country.

So let me be absolutely clear about where I'm coming from.

So some people out there who think that they can try to cancel us or try to intimidate us by just, you know, just being, you know, buzz buzz, troll troll there.

You don't know what you're dealing with.

Okay?

You don't know what you're dealing with.

And let me be very clear about a lot of people also out there.

No one has a monopoly in terms of resistance.

No one has a monopoly in terms of fighting for truth and democracy.

Now, that's why I always absolutely call out, including EU delegations, etc., visiting the country.

Like, don't go there and just visit one media channel or two because multiple media channels and thousands of journalists fought for a better democracy and human rights in the Philippines.

Right?

Let's be also absolutely clear about those things.

But then again, it looks like I'm the only one who's calling things out like that.

I mean, like, I don't know if people are just polite or it's just us being Asians, etc.

But sometimes I just realize someone has to call out certain things.

And we did.

And that's why siguro marami hindi natawa dun sa mga sinabi natin.

But good luck.

If you're trying to cancel us by trying to protest, you don't know what you're dealing with.

Okay?

This is a force of nature you guys are talking about.

Okay?

We are doing our best here based on our conviction that the first and foremost problem we are facing in our country is that yung estado ng public discourse pa lang natin problematic na.

Napaka-toxic, napaka-partisan, napaka-polarizing.

All right?

And that's turning off a lot of people from politics.

That's creating a lot of skepticism and cynicism.

And you cannot have a democracy where people just show up every six years during presidential elections or something like that.

You cannot have a real democracy like that.

All right?

We really need a new approach to things.

And I have no regrets whatsoever with pointing out deficiencies in leadership that I saw.

I mean, you clearly have seen my, you know, I have written so many articles on yung mga kakulangan sa gobyerno natin, whether it's Duterte, whether it's Aquino, whether it's Marcos, et cetera.

So I'm very clear about that.

But the opposition also has to step up their game.

And for some who have already stepped up their game like Rizal and Tiveros, they definitely deserve more respect and definitely deserve more support.

Am I seeing, you know, necessary changes there?

Yes and no.

Right?

So, eguro tayo.

So, you know, we come from a place of love.

We come from a place of concern.

We come from a place of urgency na parang hindi pwedeng business as usual lang approach sa politics.

At ayan ayoko yung impression.

I'm not saying this is the case.

But the impression we're getting from some quarters na parang support lang kayo, wag kuda.

Yung gano'n style.

And please lang, a lot of us have been fighting under our own name, ourselves, fighting this individually and getting all the heat and death threats and attacks and legal harassment, et cetera, through the years.

Alright?

So, let's be very clear about that.

Anyway, I also wanted to make this vlog because we had, you know, to be fair also to our good friends, et cetera, we had to clarify a number of things.

So, Maharlika Fund is a sovereign wealth fund.

Now, we're talking about Angat Buhay, this is something different.

It's a private NGO fund, et cetera, right?

And, you know, if you believe in the cause, then there it is.

There's a website, there's a donation platform that has been in the works for a lot of months and it has been launched already over the weekend or so.

So, please go ahead, check it on your own.

Okay?

Again, let me absolutely clear, okay?

We make some sarcastic comments here and there, but as a strictly non-partisan educator, journalist, et cetera, I'm not associated with any NGO, et cetera, especially political affiliated NGO.

And if I put something like emoji as advice, that was ironic, sarcastic.

But obviously, there are a lot of people who don't have the subtlety or don't have the goodwill to take things as they are.

But anyway, thank you very much, Kmeta.

I'll keep it there.

I think it's good for people to be reminded what they're dealing with here, right?

Okay?

Maybe some people thought that we're just here to troll.

No, we're very serious people here, okay?

We're very serious people here.

And believe me, I always wonder, when are we going to have our own versions of Navalny, right?

Right?

I'm wondering when we're going to have the kind of middle class, large scale, grassroots movement that we saw in Thailand.

I wonder when are we going to have the kind of united opposition that brought it 48 to 50 to almost split down the middle kind of situation in Turkey.

And to be absolutely clear, the authoritarian populism problem in those three countries I mentioned is way worse than the Philippines.

Alright?

So if there are folks out there who are trying to give us the impression that they're dealing with exceptionally difficult circumstances,

well, let's put things into perspective.

And speaking of perspective, that's what our job is, comparative political analysis.

Alright?

Okay.

Thank you very much, Kmeta.

I appreciate that.

Hmm.

I'll keep it there, I'll keep it there.

I think it's good for people to see, you know, our real talk.

Alright?

I think it's very important here and there.

Now, by the way, we already updated our interview on YouTube with our good friend, Suzara, about fiscal issues in the country, about the Maharlika Fund,

the good and bad and ugly as far as good governance initiatives in the Philippines are concerned.

Please check it out.

It's almost a two-hour interview.

And let me be very clear.

Alright?

You can still see I'm not 100% recovered.

I was down.

I was really tired and exhausted.

And yet I made an effort to make that two-hour interview.

And I'm so thankful to people like Suzara and these advocates who are out there.

Why do we do this?

We do this precisely because we know that there's a lack of understanding in the various public policies that are very important.

Even I, you know, admitted that there are a lot of issues I really want to learn more about.

And that's why I'm so thankful to all of you who are here.

And to all of our friends who are willing to engage with us in an hour-long, two-hour-long, three-hour-long podcast and discussions.

Sometimes I do my moderation better than others.

But I hope, guys, you see where all of this energy, this motivation, this conviction is coming from.

Alright?

It comes from somewhere very sincere and all.

So for those who are trying to cancel us and make it look as if we're trying to be here just to be relevant.

Excuse me.

We don't need to be relevant.

We already have, you know, like we have already millions of engagement a month and all based on our substantive discussions.

Granted, once in a while we troll here and there.

But let me tell you what.

Put yourself in my shoes.

Face trolling for five, six years.

Face all of the things you have had to face.

And tell me if you're not going to have some sort of dark humor here and there.

Alright? As a coping mechanism.

It's not an excuse for some of the sloppy tweets or sloppy posts we have here and there.

And we're not blue.

What's the Twitter blue that can edit?

But nevertheless, let's be very clear about the baseline here.

Everything we do here, my friends.

Everything we do here is because we love our country.

Instead of judging voters.

Instead of blaming voters.

Instead of saying, oh, we're so smart.

You're not smart after all.

You know what we do?

We talk to the smart people who are compassionate, who are capable and willing to reach out and spread the good message.

That's what we do.

We don't judge people.

We don't judge voters.

Alright?

We don't just say, ah, mga ito, canceled na mga ito.

No.

Anyone is welcome in our platforms.

Right?

Left, right, center, whatever.

Okay. No problem.

We talk to everyone.

As long as you don't spread hate.

You don't spread nonsense here.

I'm fine with that.

Right?

We are open.

This is an inclusive platform.

And I'm absolutely proud, mga kameta,

that because of our hard fight over the past five years,

trolls are pitiful on our platform.

And I'm so proud of that because I know that we fought so hard for that.

I know that very well.

Because I've had many good friends who were discouraged from being engaged in their public pages and all,

precisely because of the tremendous amount of trolling and all they faced.

I know this very well.

I had some very, very intimate and very emotional discussions with some good friends of ours.

Some of them are no longer with us.

We're saying like the moment they post something, there's all these trolls and all.

Their page is completely overwhelmed.

So it discourages them.

It poisons the well.

So thanks to their advice, thanks to their advocacy, thanks to their fight,

we fought the good fight.

So since 2018, we've been fighting continuously here, including here.

Right?

So much so that now, we have a lot of friends from different sides.

Pro-tatay, pro-junior, pro-lennie, pro-whatever.

They're here.

And 98% of the time, at least the conversation is actually quite civilized on this end.

At kung may bastos or ano, kawawa kayo dito sa page namin.

We'll put you in your right place or kick you out.

Right?

Because we have no time for that nonsense.

We have to get the ball rolling.

So this is also a ring.

This is also a fight we're doing.

Ako, individually, siguro my contribution is very limited.

Right?

Sure.

Wala tayong mag-alumaniac dito.

Pretensions dito.

Who am I?

Right?

Sino ba naman ako?

Sino ba naman tayo?

Hindi naman tayo celebrity.

Hindi naman tayo artista.

Hindi naman tayo ano, diba?

But I sincerely hope, despite all of our mistakes and shortcomings,

what we do here, I hope, inspires a new generation of thought leaders,

progressive thinkers, patriots.

I hope there'll be a thousand other versions of what we do

and I'm sure they'll be much better than what I do.

Much, much better from what I do.

Because when you start something new or semi-new,

you're gonna make mistakes.

Tao lang tayo.

But I hope whatever we do, mga kameta, here, it inspires other people.

Because we're showing here, mga kameta,

that you can have a reasonable, intelligent, hours-long conversation

at kawawa ka kung mag-troll ka sa amin dito.

Alright? We'll put you in your right place.

So hindi kami pa-awa effect, hindi kami pa-victim effect.

We fight the good fight.

But we also do it from a position of compassion.

We're not here to judge people or cancel people.

And those who are trying to cancel, good luck.

Good luck.

You have no idea what you're dealing with.

Alright?

And yeah, I'll call you out, no problem.

I'll call you out on Twitter, I'll call you out anywhere.

Okay?

Because someone should have done that in your own camp for a long time.

You can guess who are these people.

They didn't.

They should have called this out.

Although I'm glad to mention that I know that there was

some point in election last year where I think one of the Robredo daughters

said something to some of the supporters na, you know,

X, Y, and Z.

But we need more of that.

Alright?

There are a lot of toxic people out there

who are making it very difficult.

And unfortunately, their toxicity feeds off on everyone else

and provokes some people.

And unfortunately, sometimes we also get provoked.

And sometimes I feel I have to call these people out.

Right?

Okay.

That's it.

It's a wrap.

Whoo!

There we go.

We can now sleep at night.

Alright.

Balik na ako doon sa mga trabaho natin, et cetera.

God willing, we're trying to arrange a number of other things.

Hopefully, we can have Jet Tolentino again,

our good friends, our Emmy Award, Tony Award winner,

friend again for another studio interview soon

because there was a problem with the audio that time.

So, see?

It's really Vivo.

We'll do it again.

We'll do it even better, hopefully.

See?

That's what we try to do, Kmeta.

So, thank you so much, Kmeta.

Thank you so much.

And to those...

No, no.

Let's have good vibes.

Let's have good vibes.

Let me just say,

whoever you supported in the last elections,

whoever you're going to support in the next elections,

you're welcome here.

We're going to have disagreements.

We're going to have kanchawan.

We're going to have...

But you're welcome here, Kmeta.

Alright?

We're here to have a conversation.

I know we all want the best for our country.

We may have different ideas about getting there.

But let's talk about it.

Let's talk it out.

Let's talk it out in a civilized, mature way.

That's what we do.

And please,

let's not go into the cancel culture.

Let's not go into this judgmental culture.

Let's put that aside.

Because it's not helping anyone.

It's not helping our democracy.

It's not helping us.

It's not helping anyone's mental health.

Although it helps perhaps with the engagement.

Alright?

Thank you very much, guys.

Talk to you soon.

God bless.

Namaste.

Thank you very much.