It's been around a couple of months since I first had the brilliant Filipino historian, Xiao Chua on my podcast. That first online encounter marked what I would bravely claimed as one of the best podcast episodes ever recorded locally, so I was thrilled that he accepted to return for another of mind-blowing discussions, on my Facebook and Youtube livestreams.
I really intended to invite Xiao to return in June, as it is the Philippine Independence Day month. He agreed and honored a little promise that he would do it on its first week to avoid conflict with his hectic, annual Araw ng Kasarinlan week schedule. It turned out to be a perfect, opportune moment for a podcast, as controversy over the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2019 (Anti-Terror Bill) is at its full swing. Activists and regular Filipinos alike have expressed fears over the legislation. Many claim it is an attack against the citizens' Freedom of Speech and basic human rights, aimed to those who express dissent toward the current administration.
The debate had been fiery on the streets and social media, but I believe we managed to discuss it in a collected and reasonable manner, that considers both sides of the argument and what HISTORY says about the issue.
Below are the clips of that conversation from the podcast. I separated them into four parts, as pinoy Youtube users generally aren't ready for hour-long videos just yet.
Below is the FULL EPISODE. There's about an hour or so more of conversations in there about history, historians, the academe, fake news, Rizal and Bonifacio, and some more interesting stuff.
Or if you prefer to just listen, there's the audio version:
Subscribe and like or pages to get notifications.
Visit www.komiksman.com/tpkp for more episodes.
Listen on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more: https://anchor.fm/komiksman