PRESIDENTIAL and vice-presidential candidates who will skip the debates to be conducted by the Commission on Elections will lose their slots in the daily e-rally live streaming of the poll body.
This was the warning issued by the Comelec as it geared up for the first of its “PiliPinas Debate 2022” series on March 19 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City.
“To all the candidates, who will not participate… One, who skips the debate, will not be allowed to join the e-rallies,” acting Comelec Chair Socorro Inting said in a press conference during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the debate series.
“One of the agreements is that if they skip the debates, then they will not be allowed to air their e-rallies on our e-rally platform,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.
The Comelec e-rally is an online platform that provides free livestreaming of rallies of national candidates for the May 2022 polls for the entirety of the campaign period.
Jimenez said candidates who miss the initial debate will be barred from airing their e-rallies in the Comelec platform until the end of the campaign period.
“It will be until the end of the campaign period. So, they will no longer be able to use the e-rally platform of the Comelec,” said Jimenez.
In her speech during the MOA signing, Inting invited all presidential and vice-presidential candidates to participate in the Comelec debates.
“We invite you to participate in the debates we are organizing. We don’t have any other goal but to help the voters know where you stand on different issues faced by the country, and what are your plans to solve these problems,” said Inting.
The Comelec is set to conduct a five-debate series for the May 9 elections. The series, which will be produced by Impact Hub Manila, will include two presidential debates (March 19 and April 3), one vice presidential debate (March 20), one presidential town hall debate (April 23), and one vice presidential town hall debate (April 24).
The Comelec said up in the debates are a set of predetermined topics on pressing concerns of the country, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the economy.
Jimenez said they will also crowd source questions to be asked the candidates, particularly during the townhall debates.
“We will reach out to members of the different sectors. For example, if we will talk about the pandemic, we will reach out to the health sector,” he explained. “We are also making it clear that you can submit the questions you want. But there isn’t a guarantee that your question will be asked. We want to get a sense of what the people want to know.”
He said the Comelec is set to open an official window for people to submit their questions for the debates this week.
“Many have actually already sent us their questions this early,” said Jimenez, adding other details of the debates will be discussed with the candidates.
