Every year, Esquire Philippines’ Man at His Best (MAHB) honors extraordinary Filipinos who are reshaping society. These are the men and women who are raising the bar for Filipino creatives, athletes, public servants, and professionals.
This year, we’re celebrating eight modern-day heroes and icons in film, music, sports, business, politics, and journalism. From music legends Eraserheads to award-winning journalist Atom Araullo, we present the 2022 awardees who exemplify what it means to be a Man at His Best.
Meet Esquire’s Maverick of the Year, Senator Risa Hontiveros.
One evening in the summer of 1978, a storm was gathering. Thunderous noise shattered the heavens from night until dawn; a noise of indignation and repulsion from people supporting the country’s leading opposition candidate, who was running for the elections from jail at the time. The Philippines had been under martial law since 1972, and many members of the opposition had been imprisoned.
That noise barrage on April 5, 1978 was the first mass mobilization that a young Risa Hontiveros would participate in. It was a moment that would leave such an impression on Hontiveros that it would shape her future and what she would become.
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“I can’t remember how we got the news about it or how other middle-class and poor families got the news about it, pero ang hindi ko malimutan, it was a thunderous noise barrage in the skies above what came to be called Metro Manila. That was the first time I got the indication that public sentiment and opinion in opposition might really mean something significant even under the worst conditions,” Senator Risa Hontiveros tells Esquire Philippines.
Since then, Hontiveros has been a constant voice of criticism and indignation on a variety of issues , particularly corruption, abuse of power, and maltreatment of the less fortunate. Now that she’s the lone voice of opposition in the Senate, the question is, will she be all right?
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The 2022 national elections was an impossibly difficult campaign for the opposition slate, and only Hontiveros ended up securing a Senate seat. Even now, the Senator bravely squares off with allies of the administration. She has recently sparred with SAGIP Representative Rodante Marcoleta, who came to defend COA Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba when Hontiveros questioned the latter over his role in ABS-CBN's shutdown.
Is there nothing that scares Senator Risa Hontiveros? What if she ends up being detained like Senator Leila De Lima?
“Grabe iyong nangyari kay Senator Leila, ha. Syempre, oo, maya’t maya natatakot din ako kasi nakakatakot naman talaga, di ba? Iyong sitwasyon, iyong ganoong prospects. Pero gaya ng lagi kong sinasabi sa mga kasama at lalo na sa mga mas bata sa akin, okay lang naman matakot kasi nga nakakatakot nga, basta huwag lang tayong maduduwag.”
And that mantra has kept her going even if she’s the lone voice of dissent in the Upper House. In fact, she is proud that the opposition has maintained a space in the Senate and in other positions in government, despite the odds being heavily stacked against them.
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PHOTO: Cyrus Panganiban
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“I don’t feel alone. I know that there are more reformist leaders out there, kahit iyong mga hindi nanalo o kahit iyong mga hindi pa tumakbo. I intend to be part of an opposition that will strengthen itself leading up to fighting for more opposition Senators and other officials in the elections and then to fight again even for the highest positions.”
And that’s the kind of crazy audacity fueled by something rare these days: hope.
“I often say, even on days that I’m not yet optimistic or even when I’m pessimistic, that I’m someone who always chooses to hope. I think it is my duty to hope, as an activist, especially in the worst of times,” says Hontiveros.
“I am a lifelong activist whose political task right now is to be a politician, particularly a legislator and one of the leaders in the opposition that will pick ourselves up and fight again. I hope and intend greater effectiveness and victory in the coming elections,” she adds.
We wondered where this abundance of hope comes from, but the Senator promptly answered.
“The marginalized sectors themselves have always protested their inhuman or less-than-humane living conditions. They have also taken various forms of activism vis-a-vis the government, the private sector, and the rest of civil society. Sila ang nag-inspire sa akin, humatak sa akin, at nagturo sa akin sa pagiging aktibista, and now a politician.”
Unlike what many people would assume, Hontiveros comes from a middle-class family with modest means. Back when she was in high school, she would spend time with common folk, immersing in their way of life, experiencing the same dangers they experienced just to survive.
One particular memory that has been engraved in her soul is an encounter with a fisherfolk family in Longos, Kalayaan, Laguna.
“Nag-immersion ako in the summer after freshman year of college with a fisherfolk family—sina Tatay Freddy Ignacio and his wife, his kids. Iyong panganay nilang si Rosana remained my pen pal,” Hontiveros says.
“Uso pa kasi noon iyong snail mail. She and I were pen pals for many months after that immersion in Longos, Kalayaan, Laguna. Formative experience para sa akin iyong we would go out in Tatay Freddy’s bangka out to Laguna de Bay. If we strayed too close to one of the fish pens there, an armed security guard would take aim at him.
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"I lived with them for a couple of weeks, talagang napakapayak na bahay. Nag-iigib kami ng tubig para makapagligo. At mas simple ang pagkain. It was really a struggle for them to make do."
That experience was so profound, it would influence how Hontiveros would see the world and its inequalities and unfairness, especially toward poor Filipinos. Her acute sense of empathy would prove to be both blessing and curse, because it made her see the world through the experience of others, and yet be very angry about their predicament.
“Injustice, inequality, violence, these are things that make me angry. Sexism and misogyny, destruction of Mother Nature, treason about Inang Bayan, bullying against us by countries like China on issues about the West Philippine Sea,” Hontiveros enumerates a litany of things that would enrage her.
These are things much, much bigger than herself. She tackles them anyway through legislation and sparring with dishonest people during Senate hearings.
But what does a person like Risa Hontiveros dream of for the Philippines?
She takes a deep sigh when we ask the question.
“My dream is that we can develop a mature, democratic political system, that we can really develop our economy which really has a lot of potential, and redistribute not just the wealth, not just the opportunities, pero iyong yaman mismo.”
Her eyes were closed and there was intense longing in her expression.
“Iyong lupa, sa isang totohanan, tapusin na natin ang Agrarian Reform program. Iyong karapatan ng manggagawa talagang respetuhin proactively, iyong yaman din, paghati-hatian so that the rising tide of prosperity can carry everyone.
“This is like the other dreams in politics and economics. Una nang ginunita iyan ng mga unang nag-imagine kay Inang Bayan: sina Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Gregoria de Jesus, even earlier generations in their regional revolts, and down through the decades even after the Katipunan. A dream na talagang magkaisa tayong muli kasi pinag-away-away talaga tayo. Pinapa-patay tayo sa isa’t isa. Pinapa-patay tayo sa isa’t isa hanggang sa social media ngayon eh.”
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And then she called for unity.
“Magkaisa tayong muli nang mas malawak and in celebrating our arts and cultures of the different peoples in the Philippines. Pangarap ko na makamit natin iyong ganyang klaseng lipunan. We’ve seen it in other countries also, nakakainggit, nakakalungkot isipin kung bakit nakakayanan nila, ba’t hindi natin kayanin? Kaya naman natin eh.”
One particular topic that always draws her attention is the West Philippine Sea. She had demanded former President Rodrigo Duterte to speak up about the issue. What is she going to demand from the current President?
“Well, I hope that the current President will live up to his pronouncements that he will give up not one square inch of Philippine territory,” Hontiveros says.
“Although of course a ‘square inch’ is a measurement of land. Sana extended iyong intention niyang iyon sa dagat, sa katubigan natin. The President also said that he wanted to raise our relations with China to a higher level. What that means, kailangang linawin. It should not be at the expense of further dropping Philippine sovereignty and rights to an even lower level than they were sunk at the previous administration. And last but not the least, I hope and will demand that the administration’s seeming pivot back to the United States and other Western countries that for one, hindi lang ito pagkukunwari, but also that the new administration won’t lead our country into a trap of being forced simply to choose between a former colonial master and a wannabe regional power or global power.”
More than pursuing an “independent foreign policy,” Hontiveros opts for something more realistic: an interdependent foreign policy.
“I hope the President would develop an independent, interdependent foreign policy, with ASEAN for example, the Quad, and all other countries who want to see a rules-based solution to the conflict in the West Philippine Sea, and the whole South China Sea.” The Quad is a potent and burgeoning alliance of world powers composed of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia.
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Risa Hontiveros is not a Communist.
It’s undeniable that Senator Risa Hontiveros is the most prominent figure in her party, Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, or simply Akbayan. Unfortunately, this party has been a target of red-tagging or the malicious labeling of individuals or organizations as either communist or terrorist or both, especially if they are critical of the actions of the government.
Hontiveros calmly explains what Akbayan is.
“Ang Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party is a democratic-left party. Kumikilos kami sa lahat ng paraan ng demokrasya; ibig sabihin, mga mapayapang paraan. May mga debate kami sa mga hindi namin kadiwa, but we will always also stand for their human rights when they are in trouble dahil iyan ang obligasyon ng estado. Basta hindi lumalabag sa batas, ang anumang protesta, aktibismo, ay in fact, hindi lang dapat payagan, we need that, especially in what Nathan Gilbert Quimbo calls as ‘contested democracy,.
“Kaya itigil na iyang red-tagging na iyan sa partido kong Akbayan o kahit pa sa mga grupo na mas kaliwa pa sa amin na silang pinaka tina-target ng red-tagging, dahil obligasyon ng bawat mamamayan at ng estado, na basta’t walang nilalabag na batas, depensahan ang karapatan.”
No one has attempted to bribe Risa Hontiveros.
We asked if anyone has ever tried to bribe Senator Risa Hontiveros to act one way or another. She laughed gracefully, and said, “No. Not yet! They have yet to bother me!”
And why does she think they’ve avoided her?
“Baka nahulaan nila na matigas ang ulo ko? Baka nasaksihan nila na I was born a middle-classer, I am still a middle-class. My husband and I raised our kids and continue to raise them living within our means. Hindi ko alam kung bakit hindi pa sila sumusubok na ako’y suhulan.”
For a country that’s very difficult to love constantly, Risa Hontiveros does not seem to run out of patriotism and love for the country.
“Siguro may mga araw, na tulad ng mga indibidwal na tao na karelasyon mo, maaaring mahirap mahalin, ganoon din ang Inang Bayan… Well, iyong taong mahal natin, pinipili natin sila, di ba? So kung committed tayo sa relasyon, araw-araw kailangan piliin natin magmahal. Si Inang Bayan, ang swerte nga natin eh. We were born here. God, or the universe, made us be born here as Filipinos and not as any other citizen. Sa tingin ko, hindi aksidente iyon, sadya iyon. Sa tingin ko, valid pa rin iyong sinabi ng mga naunang mga bayani natin na ibigin natin si Inang Bayan. Magtaya tayo sa kanya. Paglingkuran natin siya.
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One of the finest stateswomen of our time, Senator Risa Hontiveros is a class act on and off the podium. Where most politicians are known for their controversies and scandals, Hontiveros will be remembered in history books for her fearless and just causes long after she’s left the Senate.
In this story:
Produced by Mario Alvaro Limos • Photographs by Cyrus Panganiban • Hair and Makeup by Jazthine Manaloto and Jireh Castillo for Muriel Vega Perez
Man At His Best (MAHB) is Esquire's annual celebration that honors the life and work of inspiring men and women throughout the year.
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