ILIGAN CITY—On camera, the five presidential candidates were cordial to one another, shook hands, hugged and raised each other’s hand, but off camera, they refused to break bread.
Before the debate, they made small talk and shared snacks on camera.
But shortly after the two-hour debate Sunday night, the candidates parted ways and skipped sharing a table for dinner together, debate organizers said.
The caterer Sentro 1850 was told to send the food instead to the five separate holding rooms for the presidential bets.
All camps gave excuses to skip the dinner.
Senator Grace Poe of Partido Galing at Puso said she had to see her supporters. She had ordered food good for 1,000 supporters from Pepper Lunch at Centrio, the city’s Ayala Mall, organizers said.
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said she was tired, while Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay said they were unaware of the dinner plans and already scheduled dinners with their supporters.
Each camp was allocated 20 seats in the Cagayan Capitol College theater for the first of three scheduled presidential debates was held. But the organizer said the camp of the ruling Liberal Party’s candidate Manuel Roxas II did not want his core group to be identified.
One of those on his list of guests was businessman and mining executive Eric Gutierrez, who figured in a recent controversy for allowing Roxas to use his airplane. The Liberals immediately denied having used the plane for free.
Former National Food Authority chairman Lito Banayo and Senator Aquilino Pimentel III were seen in the entourage of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan.
Vice President Jejomar Binay’s running mate, Senator Gregorio Honasan; his daughter Senator Nancy Binay; United Nationalist Alliance president Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco; Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, prominent lawyer and Kabayan Party List Group nominee Harry Roque; and Binay’s campaign manager former Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez were seated in the slots reserved for the Binay camp.
Poe’s spokesman Valenzuela City Rep. Rex Gatchalian was seated in the area reserved for her camp while Senator Miriam Santiago’s husband Narciso was in her corner.
An ambulance was on standby.
Amid criticism that the televised debate featured too many commercials, Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said they would study the possibility of reducing their number in the next leg of debates, in the Visayas.
In a phone interview, Bautista said that the public should consider the cost that the media groups are incurring.
“To be fair to them, they need to recoup this, so we need to find a balance,” Bautista said in a phone interview.
The online news service MindaNews on Monday said 48 minutes or 35.5 percent of the entire 135-minute debate, were taken up by advertisements spread across six commercial breaks of eight minutes each.
MindaNews said there were 117 ad placements during the debate, seven of them campaign ads of the presidential candidates, except for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte; and three from the Commission on Elections.
Bautista said the three Comelec commercials were all free of charge.
Binay, Poe and Roxas had two ad placements each, while Santiago only had one. Duterte had none.
Still, Duterte generated the most buzz on Twitter, with 322,000 tweets; Binay placed second with 212,000 tweets, Roxas with 78,000, Poe with 69,000 and Santiago with 65,000.
Senatorial candidates Francis Tolentino and Martin Romualdez also had two ad placements each while Senator Ralph Recto had one.
Duterte asked hosts Jessica Soho and Mike Enriquez of GMA if they would be given additional time so the candidates could talk at length about their platform of governance.
“We’re good until 9 [p.m.]… Give us time to explain further what we’d like to present to the people,” he said.
Mindanawon wondered why only one Mindanao-specific issue were asked and why only two of the five presidential candidates were given the opportunity to say their piece on the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said he hopes that the next presidential debate will give the candidates more time to answer.
“Any constructive criticism can be used to help improve the debate. What’s important is, the candidates can be able to answer questions and expound on their plan for their country,” Larrazabal said in phone interview.
The youth group Anakbayan on Monday slammed the presidential candidates for virtually ignoring education and other youth issues.
“On top of featuring mostly motherhood statements and lack of a deeper discussion of platforms, it would seem that our [presidential candidates] have forgotten about education and other issues close to the heart of the Filipino youth,” said Anakbayan national chairman Vencer Crisostomo.
Anakbayan warned that the presidential hopefuls ignore the youth’s legitimate demands at their own peril as youth voters compose 40 percent of the total registered voters in the 2016 elections.
The youth group also reserved special attention for Roxas for defending President Aquino and justifying the continuation of the current administration’s programs.
“Another six years of daang matuwid under Mar Roxas means the perpetuation of tuition hikes, mushrooming school fees, intensified commercialization of education and more suffering for the Filipino youth and people,” said Crisosotmo.