Isko Moreno ‘did not back out’ of SMNI debates, says campaign adviser: ‘We declined the invite’

FILE PHOTO: Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso on Wednesday clarified that he did not back out of the SMNI presidential debates, and merely declined the invitation due to prior commitments.

Moreno’s campaign adviser Lito Banayo said he wished to “set the record straight” as SMNI, according to him, claimed that the four presidential candidates who did not attend the invitation of the network backed out.

“So to set the record straight, we did not back out. We did not accept their invitation,” Banayo told INQUIRER.net in a text message. “We never, to begin with, accepted the SMNI invitation.”

Other presidential candidates — Vice President Leni Robredo, and Senators Manny Pacquiao and Panfilo “Ping” Lacson — also did not attend the debates organized by the news company being run by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

READ: Pacquiao, Lacson, Robredo, Moreno to skip Quiboloy’s SMNI debate

Banayo said the invitation was received by the Office of the Mayor at 5:20 pm on February 4, Friday. He said he was informed of the invitation a day after.

“I was informed about it in the afternoon of the next day, a Saturday, when we were in hectic preparation meetings for the proclamation amidst the just-released Comelec restrictions which upset previous plans. We had an approved schedule of provincial and NCR sorties before we received their invitation. One of these was Samar island, which was earlier planned in December, but Pag-asa predicted bad weather and rains due to an oncoming LPA, forcing us to cancel the day before the planned sortie,” he explained.

Banayo said the network’s staff texted him until Monday night, a day before the debate.

“The SMNI people used several conduits for me and other staff, but I declined, because of the schedule in Samar,” he added.

The campaign advisor also said they exercised “due diligence” in deciding not to go to the presidential debate.

“At my level, I always exercise due diligence: who was going? Surely Leni would not go. I knew Ping Lacson would not from sources in his staff, especially when Quiboloy endorsed Marcos II already.

“So at that point, I would not trade a Samar trip for SMNI considering that our schedules have been unduly delayed by Omicron and the difficulties of getting permits,” he added.

Other presidential candidates such as Marcos, labor leader Leody De Guzman, former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and former presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella joined the debates, the first to have been organized for the May 9 elections.

EDV