Article by:
Ferdinand Patinio
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said specific questions for the presidential and vice presidential debates it is hosting will come from various sectors.
“The debate topics were agreed upon by the Comelec. We talked about what we felt is necessary to discuss in these debates. There will be input as to the specific questions from the different sectors that we are soliciting from and we feel that will give us a better picture of what the debates will look like,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an online briefing.
This, as the poll body is set to notify candidates on the general topics to be tackled in the first debates set on March 19 for presidential candidates and March 20 for vice presidential bets at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.
The second presidential debates will be on April 3, also to be held at the same venue.
Jimenez said there are no other penalties for national candidates who will not participate in the debates sponsored by the Comelec.
"First of all, mandatory participation in debates is kind of a minority situation. All over the world, for the most part, are voluntary for the candidates. In places where they are mandatory, for example, Argentina, there are legislated consequences such as forfeiture of their rights to use broadcast medium. In other countries, if you did not join the debate, you will not be allowed to broadcast television ads for example,” Jimenez said.
He said the country's election laws mandate that candidates can use mass media for their campaign.
“The e-rally is not a creation of any statute. It is an affirmative action for the part of Comelec and it is something that we feel has value and we feel should be forfeited if we feel the candidate refused to participate,” he said. (PNA)
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