6 presidential bets commit to join debates

Every one of the six presidential candidates on Wednesday committed to participate in a series of debates being organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)  and various media entities.

The first debate, to be organized by Inquirer and GMA Network, will be held at Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 21.

During a meeting on debate rules and regulations, which was attended by officials of the Comelec, media organizations, and political parties, the camps of Vice President Jejomar Binay, Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas, Senators Miriam Santiago and Grace Poe, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and OFW Family Club party-list representative Roy Señeres all agreed to participate in the debates.

Part on debates depends on SC

Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia,  said his client’s participation in the debates will depend on the Supreme Court ruling on Poe’s petition seeking to reverse the Comelec decision disqualifying her from the race.

“Nakadepende po kami sa SC (we are dependent on the Supreme Court),” Garcia said, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

Duterte’s representative, lawyer Antonio Kho, said he would “strongly recommend” to the feisty mayor, who has expressed some reluctance to join the debates, participate.

Comelec Chair Andres Bautista, while stressing that attendance by the candidates is not mandatory, said it would be to their disadvantage if they don’t join.

“This is a huge opportunity for the candidates to have the chance to talk to the people for free. If they do not attend, I think that the voters might take that against them,” he said.

The debate guidelines have yet to be finalized and are still subject to further amendments.

One of the issues to resolve is whether political advertisements would be aired during the commercial segments of the debates. Media networks want political ads be allowed to recover the costs of putting up the debates.

The debates will run for two hours each, including breaks. There will be five to six rounds of questioning, with each round focusing on a main issue or topic.