Why Christian Esguerra was cast as Ferdinand E. Marcos in ‘Edjop’

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He doesn’t look like the former dictator, doesn’t sound like him, and he’s not even an actor.

So, why was one of the country’s veteran journalists cast as President Ferdinand E. Marcos in Edjop: The Movie? (READ: [Rappler’s Best] The struggle against forgetting)

Esguerra himself didn’t want the part (he wanted a journalist’s role), and after watching the film last week, the former ABS-CBN correspondent and ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) talk show host quipped the film would have been much better if another person was chosen as the dictator.

“I have to put this on the record, the film was almost perfect. Almost,” he said in a recent episode of his Facts First podcast with the film director, Katsi Flores.

“Ang minus dun, nagkamali kayo sa casting. Meron kayong kinuhang walang kwenta na hindi naman aktor. Pinaganap niyo bilang Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Yung lang ang pangit eh. Sabi ko, dito lang nasira yung pelikula. Okay na sana eh.”

(The film’s minus is, you made a mistake in casting. You chose someone who’s not good and is not an actor. You made him play Ferdinand Marcos Sr. That’s the only ugly part. I said, this is what destroyed the movie. It would have been okay otherwise.)

But Flores insisted she made the right choice.

“Let’s set the record straight. Pinilit ko po si Christian Esguerra. Sabi niya, ayaw niya, ayaw niya talagang gawin ‘tong role na ito, pero sabi ko sa kanya, kayo natin ‘yan. I just need like 20 seconds of screen time from you. I think it’s going to make a great statement,” she said.

(Let’s set the record straight. I forced Christian Esguerra. He said he didn’t want to do it, he really didn’t want to do the role, but I told him, we can do it. I just need like 20 seconds of screen time from you. I think it’s going to make a great statement.)

Esguerra, indeed, only has less than a minute of fame in the movie, but he delivered one of the most iconic lines in it when, after the young student leader Edgar Jopson, in a meeting in Malacañang in January 1970, urged him to to put on writing that he would not seek a third term, Marcos said: “Who are you to tell me what to do? You’re only a son of a grocer!” To which Edjop replied: “Honest grocer naman (An honest grocer, of course).”

Edgar Jopson, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., Malacanang 1970

For his cameo performance, Esguerra was made to undergo an hours-long, acting crash course with veteran theater actor, Ron Capinding. It helped that Capinding himself had played the role of Marcos Sr. in the 2023 play The Impossible Dream.

Had Esguerra flunked the test in the acting workshop, Flores said she would not have insisted on having him play the role of Marcos.

“Hindi ko naman icocompromise yung pelikula… Kung hindi ka naman nakapag deliver dun sa iyong instant audition, hindi naman kita ika-cast,” she said of her “passion” project that was five years in the making. “Paninindigan ko talaga yung desisyon i-cast ka,” she said in the podcast.

(I wouldn’t compromise the film. If you were not able to deliver in your instant audition, I would not have cast you. I stand by my decision to cast you.)

Elaborating on her decision, Flores said she chose Esguerra because she “wanted a strong statement, I wanted somebody who could provide an irony, be a talking point.”

That statement takes note of Esguerra’s record as an uncompromising journalist who is now one of the Philippines’ top independent content creators on politics with an influential following on social media.

After he was let go by ABS-CBN in 2020 as the network lobbied (but still failed) to get its broadcast franchise renewed, Esguerra quickly shifted to digital platforms and now has over 700,000 subscribers on YouTube and nearly 500,000 followers on Facebook. He hosts an almost daily Facts First show online.

Changing landscape

Flores’ decision to use Esguerra as the dictator who shuttered independent media was also likely influenced by a changing media landscape here and abroad.

A global study, “Mapping News Creators and Influencers in Social and Video Networks” by the Reuters Institute and the University of Oxford says “news creators and influencers operating in social and video networks have become a significant source of news in recent years,” with Reuters Institute saying that “personalities and news creators often eclipse traditional news brands in terms of attention.”

The study’s Philippine case cites Esguerra as among the top 15 “most mentioned individuals for news on social and video networks by Philippines survey respondents,” a list that also includes Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.

“From the list above, only Christian Esguerra fits our definition of news creator in the political sphere. After a long career in mainstream media, he set up as an independent YouTuber and podcaster in 2022. His show, Facts First, aims to combat disinformation by providing facts and context on burning issues in Philippines politics,” the study says.

Christian Esguerra, news content creator

In Reuters Institute and University of Oxford’s 2026 Digital News Report, Yvonne Chua, an associate professor in journalism in UP Diliman, said that in the case of the Philippines, “About one-third of people (36%) report consuming content from creators or influencers mainly focused on the news. A larger proportion (46%) get some content from creators who mostly cover other topics but sometimes discuss current events.”

With actor now part of his resumé, will Esguerra be appearing in other films? Not likely, he said, but he joked that he hopes he’ll win an award for “Best Supporting Extra.”

As of Monday, September 28, Edjop: The Movie was still showing in four cinemas in Metro Manila: Gateway Cineplex in Quezon City, Robinsons Place Manila, Market! Market! in Taguig, and Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City.

The film will next be shown in select festivals in the United States and in Europe. – Rappler.com