FILE PHOTO: Presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto lll barnstorm Ilocandia. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III rejected the Commission on Election (Comelec) rule wherein candidates will be given the topics in advance prior to the presidential and vice presidential debates.
Lacson likened the rule to leaving answers to examinees before an examination, although the Comelec explained that the candidates would not be given “specific questions” but just the “general idea” of what will be asked.
“It’s foolishness. Candidates should study, not ask for advance notice on the questions,” Lacson said while campaigning in Sorsogon.
Sotto said: “I would prefer one who has studied for 30 years over someone who is still studying that, if Comelec did not give the topics in advance, they would not know how to respond.”
Lacson said most voters are intelligent enough to know that he and Sotto are the most qualified, but they still face a wall of hesitancy.
“I have been receiving a lot of messages, congratulatory messages, commendations, even tacit admissions that in the past forums, interviews, and even the presidential debate that happened last week, they know who is qualified,” Lacson said.
“Kaya lang merong ‘kaya lang.’ I hope ma-resolve namin ‘yung issue ng ‘kaya lang’ (However, there’s always a ‘but.’ I hope we can resolve that issue),” he added.
The senator said the hesitancy of some voters to vote for him comes from the idea that they would just be wasting their votes, but he described this mindset as “wrong.”
RELATED STORIES
Lacson, Sotto hit early release of topics for Comelec debates
Lacson bares being asked to stop ‘attacking’ fellow bet amid campaign vs ‘theives’
Lacson-Sotto team sees cracks in the ‘Solid North’