Teka Teka

The Ifugao Rice Terraces are more than breathtaking landscapes. They are living monuments of human ingenuity, hand-carved over 2,000 years ago. Declared as a National Treasure, these terraces embody the deep bond between culture and nature. Yet today, the “Eighth Wonder of the World” faces urgent threats: climate change, deforestation, and failing irrigation systems. Farming, once a proud heritage...

The Moros are Muslim natives of southern Philippines now enjoying their hard-fought autonomy through the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). But there are also non-Moro indigenous peoples (IP) in the region, as independent journalist Buena Bernal discusses with IP rights advocate Ice Baguilat in this episode. This is the third episode in Teka Teka’s four-part mini series on BA...

Can we separate the art from the artist? In this episode of Thought Bubbles on Teka Teka, host Bubbles Magpayo talks to magazine editor and reader Celine Dabao about Filipino literature, the Manila International Book Fair, and the complicated question of supporting problematic authors. From the Exploding Galaxies controversy to literary clout, accountability, and meaningful support for Filipino wr...

Ahead of his return to Manila, ESPN’s NBA insider Brian Windhorst sat down with PumaPodcast to talk about Filipinos’ love for basketball, as well as the most compelling storylines for the upcoming NBA season: the new-look Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James’ move to Philadelphia, the world champion New York Knicks, and the young superstar Victor Wembanyama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

A decade after Rodrigo Duterte launched his war on drugs, the Philippines is still grappling with its legacy of violence, fear and impunity. Inspired by the 2018 killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, Silenced Nights had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Screenwriter Troy Espiritu talks about telling the story through the eyes of a witness, the ethics o...

This is the second episode in Teka Teka’s four-part mini series on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, following its historic first parliamentary elections Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we invited Sesille Nava and her husband Itch, a vasectomized man, to talk about navigating married life post-vasectomy. How do they handle the misconceptions about sex, manhood, and parenthood? How did it affect their relationship? And how would they encourage others to take the path to a spermless future? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1977, after publishing "The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos", Primitivo Mijares went missing while his youngest son Boyet was kidnapped and brutally murdered. Mrs. Priscilla Mijares wrote in her affidavit, "Information reaching my family were to the effect that during the torture of my son, the father was made to appear by torturers to witness his son's agony." See omnystud...

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM held its first parliamentary elections this week. In an interview with Georgi Engelbrecht, senior analyst on the Philippines for the International Crisis Group, independent journalist Buena Bernal looks at the political parties who took part in the process, examines who they represent, and asks about what a future could look like under t...

Apart from parents, who are the other adults who need to keep children safe from harm online? And how can we start conversations with children about digital literacy? These are the questions independent journalist Nica Hanopol seeks answers to in the second episode of our mini-series on children’s rights in the digital age. Family life and child development experts Keisha Constantino and Edgar Bel...

The Philippines is betting on renewable energy, critical minerals, and high-tech industries like AI and semiconductors. But much of the land and resources needed for this transition overlap with Indigenous territories. As the proposed Pax Silica industrial hub in Tarlac faces resistance from Aeta leaders, what does a truly “just” energy transition look like, and can the Philippines avoid repeating...

The impact of violent content on Filipino kids has become a national conversation. At the same time, online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC) is becoming widespread.  Lawmakers are calling for tighter restrictions on social media and other digital platforms. But can an outright ban protect our youth from the most dangerous corners of the internet? What does it take to make the...

Sa nakaraang SONA ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., ipinanukala niya ang pag-alis ng system loss charges mula sa ating mga binabayaran sa kuryente. Ngunit ano nga ba ang system loss?  Sa episode na ito ng Teka Teka, hinimay ni Atty. Monalisa Dimalanta, senior advisor on energy literacy and energy democracy ng Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, at ni Jhesset Enano, isang climate an...

We are all equal in a democracy. Or at least, we should be. But the rich enjoy more privileges than the rest of us. How can a wealth tax make sure that everyone lives with dignity? Aren’t we punishing those who work hard by proposing its imposition? What does the Constitution say about it, anyway? Will our lawmakers even support this policy? And how is it a means to prevent corruption? Political s...

A year after President Marcos exposed corruption in flood control projects, the rains are still falling, and so are the questions. PCIJ investigative journalist Gwen Latoza joins Teka Teka to unpack what a year of hearings, leaks, and budget digging actually revealed, and why accountability still hasn't reached the top. Read Gwen’s stories through the following links: LINKS TO PCIJ REPORTS: Alloca...

Eight years after Filipino migrant fisher Sam Dela Cruz died aboard a foreign fishing vessel, his family is still waiting for answers—and for his remains to come home. This episode examines what has changed since his death, what hasn't, and why thousands of Filipino fishers continue to face exploitation far from home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The squid on our plates may have come at a devastating human cost. A new investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation, based on five years of research and more than 430 interviews with Filipino and Indonesian fishers, uncovers widespread forced labour, wage theft, violence, illegal fishing, and even deaths aboard distant-water squid vessels. Many of the workers are Filipinos, recruited wi...

Tuberculosis remains one of the Philippines’ deadliest public health challenges, with the country now ranking third globally in TB burden. Philippine Tuberculosis Society (PTSI), founded in 1910, has been on the frontlines for over a century evolving from isolation care at the historic Quezon Institute to today’s decentralized network of clinics. Former Health secretary Dr. Paulyn Ubial, who is no...

A necessary tool for social order. This was how affected residents viewed tokhang, according to Dr. Marco Garrido, an associate professor of Sociology from the University of Chicago. His ethnographic work reveals that in high-density, impoverished neighborhoods, the disruption caused by drugs was seen as a collective threat, derailing their very survival. More about his study—which argues that the...

Scientists monitoring Bais Bay in Tañon Strait say the damage caused by a toxic wastewater spill in an ethanol distillery has evolved into something even more dangerous: a slow-moving ecological crisis that threatens corals, fisheries, and livelihoods. This episode examines why the spill continues, the gaps in environmental enforcement, and what must happen now to prevent irreversible damage to th...

We’ve been seeing, reading and hearing it all over the news: a so-called “Super” El Niño is here. How will this climate event affect the Philippines, a country that is highly exposed to weather and climate hazards? In this episode of Teka Teka, climate and environment journalist Jhesset Enano speaks with  meteorologist and climate scientist Rafaela Jane Delfino on this global climate pattern,...

In this episode of Teka Teka, we explore periods: the physical and social costs of having them; what organizations and the government are doing to improve the experience for young Filipinas; and why we as a society, seem to shy away from conversations about this normal, everyday occurrence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In “Pictures that matter,” a special mini-series to commemorate the tenth year of the drug war, we talk to media workers who covered one of the bloodiest terms in modern Philippine history and ask them to tell the stories behind the troubling—and powerful—images splashed on our screens and newspapers. What kind of mark did this period leave on these journalists, and how have they made sense of wha...

Democracies are grappling with a new threat supercharged by AI.  Reporting from Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany, independent journalist Nica Hanopol unpacks the rise of “malicious AI swarms.”  They are opaque, personalised, and cross-platform, making it harder to detect. In this episode, she explores how these networks could fabricate consensus during elections and und...

In “Pictures that matter,” a special mini-series to commemorate the tenth year of the drug war, we talk to media workers who covered one of the bloodiest terms in modern Philippine history and ask them to tell the stories behind the troubling—and powerful—images splashed on our screens and newspapers. What kind of mark did this period leave on these journalists, and how have they made sense of wha...