Senior Multimedia Reporter, Rappler Inc.

Paterno R. Esmaquel II is a senior journalist covering religion for Rappler, an internationally acclaimed news website in the Philippines. Mr. Esmaquel joined the Rappler team in 2012 as one of its first multimedia reporters and served as the organization’s news editor from 2020 to 2023. Now, he is known for his news reports and videos that tackle freedom of religion and religious diversity. He writes a Sunday column, The Wide Shot, that tackles religion and public life in Asia’s biggest Christian-majority country. On top of his current work as a religion reporter, Mr. Esmaquel is a journalism instructor at two of the Philippines’ leading Catholic schools: the Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas and the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Ateneo and a master’s degree in Asian studies, focusing on religions in plural societies, from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.