Sen. Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.By JC Gotinga, CNN Philippines
Updated 16:07 PM PHT Fri, February 5, 2016
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista said on Friday (February 5) that four candidates have confirmed their attendance to the presidential debates.
They are Jejomar "Jojo" Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance, Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte of PDP-Laban, Manuel "Mar" Roxas II of the Liberal Party and Grace Poe of Team Galing at Puso.
The first presidential debate, hosted by GMA Network Inc. and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, will take place in Cagayan de Oro on February 21.
A representative of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said she will have to confirm on a later date whether she will be able to make it. The representative did not give a reason why Santiago cannot commit yet.
Rep. Roy Señeres did not confirm either as he did not send a representative to a meeting between Bautista and the candidates' teams on Friday morning. The lawmaker later in the day withdrew from the race, citing health reasons.
Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, spokesman of UNA and representative of Binay, said the vice president has committed to attend all three debates.
Atty. George Garcia, Poe's lawyer, said his client also plans to attend all the debates despite the cases seeking to block her candidacy.
He added Poe is happy she is included in the certified list of candidates and that her name will make it to the ballot.
Political ads during broadcastOne issue that has to be settled is whether political advertisements will be allowed during the telecast of the debates.
Remulla said they would rather not have ads during broadcasts.
"Sa tingin namin, dapat wala nang political commercials during the debate to ensure the purity of the discussion. Kasi pwede silang mag interject ng policy o ng ads nila which might skew the general temperament of the debate," said Remulla.
"But that's up to the networks and the Comelec to decide," he added.
arcia said Poe's camp is fine with airing political ads during the debates as long as there's equal footing among candidates.
"Halimbawa during the commercials, magkakaroon equal time for all the candidates. Hindi yung one candidate any mag-dodomina dun sa commercials na yun. Yun any pinakiusap namin sa station that will be sponsoring the debate," explained Garcia.
TV5 and the Philippine Star are set to host another presidential debate on March 20 in Cebu, while ABS-CBN and the Manila Bulletin will head the third and final one on April 24 in Luzon.
The only vice presidential debate will be hosted by CNN Philippines, in partnership with Rappler and Business Mirror, on April 10 in Metro Manila.
http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/02/05/comelec-presidential-debates.html
