Comelec to bets: Skip debates, lose e-rally privilege

MANILA, Philippines — Skip the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-sponsored debates and the candidate loses the privilege to use the poll body’s free livestreaming of their e-rallies platform until the end of the campaign period.

“I really hope all the candidates will participate in the debates sponsored by the Comelec. One who refuses or skips the debate will not be allowed to join the e-rallies,” Comelec acting Chair Socorro Inting yesterday said.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the ban from joining their e-rallies platform would last “until the end of the campaign period. So they will no longer be able to use the e-rally forum of the Comelec.”

The poll body had earlier said it would also leave vacant the podium allocated for that specific candidate.

In partnership with Impact Hub Manila, the Comelec will host “PiliPinas Debates 2020: The Turning Point” at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila on March 19 for the presidential candidates and on March 20 for vice presidential bets.

The organizers are currently in talks with the 10 presidential candidates and nine vice presidential candidates about the forthcoming debates.

“We are still going to brief them on the fine points of the format. That is actually what all of the candidates are interested in, so we are going to hold that under wraps for now,” Jimenez said.

“The agreement with the candidates, so that there will still be room for us to adjust, in case they want, for example, a holding room. The normal aspects of candidate negotiations,” he added.

The Comelec is set to conduct a five-debate series before the May 9 national and local elections.

The series will include two presidential debates (March 19 and April 3), one vice presidential debate (March 20), one presidential town hall debate (April 23) and one vice presidential town hall debate (April 24).

Jimenez said that while their scheduled debates would be held close to election day, and while many may have already made up their minds on whom to vote for, he believes that there will still be voters who will be undecided by then.

Through the Comelec-sponsored debates, the poll body hopes to help these voters in making their decisions.

“When you think of the possibilities, you’re looking at a segment of the public, where some of them are impossible to convince because they have made up their mind,” the Comelec spokesman said.

“But there will still be some segments of the society that will wait to hear the facts, opinions of candidates, before they make their final choices. And we think that is a large enough segment, that this will be a very impactful event,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jimenez said that aside from gathering sectors for questions to ask candidates during the debates, they would also solicit questions from the general public.

He added that they have been receiving questions already.

“Many have sent us inclusions to the questions. We are making it clear that you can submit the questions you want. But there isn’t a guarantee that your question will be asked. We want to get a sense of what the people want to know, to zoom down, to what the sector considers important,” Jimenez said.

The Comelec will formally ask for questions this week.

OCTA: Pinoys want debates

Meanwhile, almost eight out of every 10 Filipinos believe that debates and interviews will help them decide who to vote for in the May 9 elections, according to a social media survey conducted by OCTA Research.

Based on the results of the group’s survey conducted through Twitter last Sunday, only 10.6 percent of the 621 respondents said “no.”

“Are debates and interviews useful in helping you decide which candidates to vote for in the upcoming national elections?” was the question asked.

The survey results said 77.9 percent answered in the affirmative while 10.8 percent said “it depends” and 0.6 percent gave no opinion on the same issue.

OCTA Research fellow Guido David said the Twitter poll has a 95-percent confidence interval and a four-percent margin of error.

Televised public debates, particularly for presidential and vice presidential candidates, have become controversial recently because of the refusal of some bets to participate for various reasons and perceived bias on the part of organizers of the activity.

The presidential debate hosted by Sonshine Media Network International was attended by only four of eight candidates seeking the highest executive position in the land.

Only labor leader Leodegario de Guzman, former presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, former defense secretary Norberto Gonzales and former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attended.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who is running for president, skipped the Feb. 15 debate, citing conflict of schedule, while Sen. Manny Pacquiao refused to attend the same because he said the owner of the network, Apollo Quiboloy, is wanted in the United States for sex trafficking.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is also running for president, said he did not attend the debate because Quiboloy had already endorsed the candidacy of Marcos.

In the recent CNN Philippines debates, all of the presidential aspirants attended, except Marcos, supposedly because of a conflict in schedule as he was campaigning in Pangasinan. – Michael Punongbayan