C6 For Sigla Research Center, Hope Is A Stubborn, Unending Thing

development workers, to every Filipino. "Healing and solidarity is not the first thing you think about when you study disinformation.

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It's always about finding the bad actor and how to name and shame them," Jon explains. "May next step pa: (after) all these harms and conflicts, how can we still love together? How do we live as one country across political divides?"

This is why deliberative democracy, where thoughtful discussion and debate is central to a nation's decision-making, is also a foundational element of Sigla's approach. It means being open to listen to differing beliefs and allowing yourself to be changed by what you discover. "On top of already-existing deep social divides, the political developments in the past 9-10 years have left even deeper divisions among us. Centering healing comes out of the recognition that a better world is only possible if it is forged together," says head of Research JM Lanuza, who is also an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines Manila and a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Ferds recalls a recent citizen assembly he headed in Makati: "There was fear na baka those we invited may not come dahil walang interest or hindi naman nila 'to paglalaanan ng oras. But then they came and deliberated. In my engagement with Sigla, nagkakaroon ako ng understanding that we're more similar with people rather than different."

This is a potent realization at a time of intensifying political polarization. "Post-2022, ang daming questions na what we were doing wrong in academia, journalism and human rights," Jon says. "I think we should have kept that conversation and really dwelled in the discomfort of that. How can we reach out to the other side?" Sigla has been intentional about citizen empowerment and working with labor unions and precarious workers. "The answers are not going to come from my colleagues or even myself, but from listening to newer voices."