The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said everything is ready for the second Pilipinas Debates 2022 scheduled on April 3, but Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. has yet to confirm if he will attend the presidential debates.
The nine presidential candidates who confirmed their attendance to the Comelec were Ernesto “Ernie” C. Abella, Leodegario “Leody” Q. De Guzman, Francisco “Isko” M. Domagoso, Norberto “Bert” B. Gonzales, Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson, Emmanuel “Manny Pacman” D. Pacquiao, Faisal “Fai” M. Mangondato, Jose “Joey” C. Montemayor Jr., and Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the format of the second presidential debate will be changed.
The second presidential debate will have “one general question that will be posted for all the candidates to answer, and this will happen at the start of the debate.”
“For each succeeding segment, the candidates will be divided into groups of three where each group will be given one question to debate,” he said.
As such, he said there will be three questions for each succeeding segment.
Groups of threes will change with each segment, Jimenez said, saying each group will be randomly pre-determined through a drawing of lots before the start of the debate.
The participating presidential candidates will each be given a 60-second closing statement. They will be given 60 seconds each for their closing statement.
Candidates were only given 90 seconds to answer in the previous debate sponsored by the poll body. Meanwhile, the Town Hall debates for presidential and vice-presidential candidates will take place on April 23 and 24, respectively.
Currently, the only sanction being imposed by the poll body to debate skippers is depriving them of the right to use Comelec’s e-rally platforms.