The CNN Philippines Presidential Debate

The CNN Philippines 2022 Presidential Debate was held last Sunday. All but one of the presidential candidates were present. An empty podium was placed to show his absence. I don’t have to tell you who he is. He has been skipping debates except for one where the host personally endorsed his candidacy. Talk about bias. Anyway, the CNN debate took more of a question-answer format where candidates were asked questions ranging from the economy to reasons for running. Many gave the usual motherhood, out-of-the-box statements one would expect to hear from candidates.

But a few noteworthy excerpts should be noted. One was the back-and-forth banter between Leody de Guzman and Dr. Jose Montemayor. De Guzman, obviously on the laborer’s side while Montemayor seemingly protective of the employers set the stage for some lively statements. I believe the best statement of the night came from De Guzman when he said he thought Bongbong Marcos Jr. was absent.

Another noteworthy statement came from Sen. Manny Pacquiao where he promised to have a mega-prison built to incarcerate all corrupt officials in the first 100 days of his presidency. Corruption in government has been his focus and battle cry ever since he announced his intention to run. When asked which government agency should be purged of systemic corruption, only Pacquiao singled out the DOH. The rest, the Bureau of Customs of course. Pacquiao’s sincerity to serve was present. He is not a seasoned politician after all. But will that be enough to catapult him into the presidency?

I expected the question on the importance of debates to be asked of everyone since CNN Philippines already knew Bongbong Marcos Jr. would not attend. Almost everyone gave the same answer, stating the importance of having the people see just how well a candidate would answer the questions, be they easy or hard. Montemayor had a different take stating this was not the typical debate where candidates are pitted against each other. To be honest, he played the monkey wrench into everyone’s plans, at times citing erroneous data. Monkeywrench or comedy relief, you be the judge.

I believe one more presidential debate is being planned, the one hosted by the Comelec. I have no idea if all will be present or if the perennial absentee will skip this one as well. I, for one, believe in candidates showing up for debates. It is an opportunity to show the people just what you are made of, how you handle tough situations. Perhaps Marcos is so confident in his lead in the surveys, he doesn’t feel the need to attend the debates. We will have to wait and see.