The Quezon Brouhaha (When Your Lolo Becomes the Villain)

When President Quezon's grandson stood up at a movie screening and publicly ripped into Jericho Rosales and the filmmakers for portraying his grandfather as a corrupt, scheming politician, he exposed the raw nerve at the heart of Filipino identity: we're not ready to see our heroes as flawed humans.

The biopic Quezon—the third in director Jerrold Tarog's "Bayani Verse" trilogy—dropped in October 2025, right in the middle of the Philippines' biggest corruption scandal in decades. 421 ghost flood control projects. Billions stolen. And here comes a movie saying: This is how it's always been. He was the original "trapo."

Manolo and Ricky debate whether the family should have been consulted, whether claiming "satire" gives filmmakers a free pass, and most uncomfortably: If corruption is baked into our political DNA since Day One, what's the point of getting angry about ghost projects now?

Because maybe the real problem isn't one corrupt president. Maybe it's that Filipinos tie their entire identity to their ancestors' reputations—and we'd rather protect the myth than face the truth.

The hosts get personal about their own grandfathers' flaws, discuss why Americans are comfortable criticizing George Washington while Filipinos can't touch Quezon, and wonder if this viral confrontation was staged for publicity (spoiler: it might have been—this was the grandson's third viewing).

Two Filipino Americans. Two perspectives. One uncomfortable truth: dead presidents can't defend themselves, but their grandkids will try.