SENATOR Francis Escudero and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo each vowed to put an end to “endo (end-of-contract)” scheme by employers or the practice of “contractualization” during the vice presidential debate organized by ABS-CBN on Sunday.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano reduced the nation’s gut issues to a question of “political will,” saying only he and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte could walk their talk, while Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV pushed for a national identification system to maintain peace and order.
Four of the six vice presidential candidates presented their platforms at the start of Sunday’s face-off— the second televised debate in the past two weeks. Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., bruised by the battering he took during their first face-off, was absent, along with Sen. Gringo Honasan who cited a prior commitment.
“Marcos will not attend ABS-CBN debate, will instead have dinner with his wife, Louise for their 23rd anniversary,” the network said on Twitter. ABS-CBN also said Honasan cited a scheduling conflict as the reason for his absence.
At the start of the debate, the four were given the chance to present their respective platforms, and each strove to strike a contrast between each other with only a month to go before the election.
Escudero said he and his running mate Sen. Grace Poe would eradicate contractualization, or the practice of employers to limit workers to short-term contracts so they missed out on employment benefits.
He said the Poe-Escudero administration would give P1 billion for each province, and push for 100 percent coverage of PhilHealth, including zero billing for the poor in hospitals, free state college and education.
When her turn came, Robredo said she agreed that there should be no more contractualization of jobs.
“We will push for security of tenure, penalties for employers who violate the law, ensure jobs with stable earnings, so people can have their own homes, eat three meals a day, and live life with dignity,” she said.
The widow of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said she and LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas would expand existing government services in the health sector, including the removal of consultation fees and the distribution of free medicines, and to localize Department of Education programs to the regions or provinces.
“We will have a one-doctor per family policy. each education should not be an impediment, we want to decentralize powers of DepEd so there’s local treatment of programs, so school programs are regionalized and suited to provincial needs. rural development.
Cayetano said he and Duterte’s program was simple: “Federalism, economic federalism, crime, drugs, corruption in three-six months.
Drawing a contrast with his rivals, he said the question of platforms was not the problem. “Everything they are promising, we have done in Davao and Taguig. Take out your phones, google, ‘masterplan, housing.’”
“The problem is leadership, political will… There’s no leadership,” he said, drawing applause from his supporters. “Let them talk about platform. As for us, we will just do it. We will get it done for you.”
Unlike the April 10 debate sanctioned by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and aired by CNN Philippines, this debate held at the network headquarters in Quezon City was purely an ABS-CBN effort, though it may possibly hold just as much importance given the Lopez network’s wider reach.
Voter preference surveys place Marcos, Robredo and Escudero within a few points of each other in a race that remains wide open less than a month before the May polls. The three other contenders lag far behind them.