Otso Diretso asks Comelec to organize debate with Hugpong
MANILA, Philippines — Otso Diretso bets trooped to the Commission on Elections on Thursday to ask the poll body to facilitate a debate between them and the Hugpong ng Pagbabago senatorial ticket.
Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo party-list), Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, and lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Florin Hilbay personally submitted their letter request to the Comelec.
Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno is also one of the signatories in the letter but he was not present during the filing.
The opposition bets asked the poll commission to “officiate or facilitate a debate between the candidates of the opposition coalition known as Otso Diretso and the candidates of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago.”
They noted that a debate between the two parties “was planned” but the Hugpong camp said that they would not agree with it unless terms have been set and an independent body would facilitate or conduct the same.
Sara to Otso Diretso: I'm not your secretary
Hugpong campaign manager and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte earlier said they would not want a debate that was hastily set up or akin to “palengke-style.”
Macalintal, in a press conference on Wednesday, said it never crossed their minds that the "debate will be public market-style" as he argued that "it’s a battle of the brains." He also urged the Hugpong camp to send a representative so they could set and agree on terms for the debate.
Duterte, however, rebutted that it was the opposition bets who wanted to set a debate in the first place.
"I am a mayor of Davao City, I am the chairman of HNP, hindi po ako secretary ng Otso Diretso (I am not the secretary of Otso Diretso)," Duterte was quoted in media reports.
On Monday, Alejano, Diokno, Hilbay, Macalintal and lawyer Erin Tañada showed up at Plaza Miranda for the public debate but none of the Hugpong candidates showed up. Instead, some of the Hugpong bets were at Bulacan in the morning then in Valenzuela in the afternoon for campaign sorties.
In asking the Comelec to organize a debate, Otso Diretso noted that Duterte also said that they should “find a third party organizer."
Debate to benefit public
The opposition bets added the debate would be beneficial for the voting public "who has all the right to know the platforms and positions on various issues of these political groups."
They proposed that the debate may center on the following issues:
- Foreign incursion in our waters and the influx of foreign labor in the face of massive unemployment of Filipinos
- The TRAIN law and other anti-poor policies
- Alarming degree of unsolved murders around the country
- Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility
- Official corruption and cronyism, for example in reclamation projects and telecommunications contracts
But Hugpong bets could also add issues they would want to discuss, the opposition slate added. — Kristine Joy Patag
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