Comelec mulls holding of presidential debates early

MANILA, Philippines — This early, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is seriously considering holding another series of presidential debates in time for the May 2022 national and local elections.

“We are looking at the possibility of staging the presidential debates. This early, we are already talking about it,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an interview.

Jimenez said they were looking at again holding debates for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

“For senators, we’ll have yet to see. Unless we can find ways to arrange them into tiers, only the president and vice president are certain for now,” he said, adding that in 2016, senatorial candidates were not included in the debates because there were so many of them.

The poll body, with the assistance of Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, administered “PiliPinas Debates 2016” in preparation for the May 2016 elections.—Tina G. Santos