Admin bets on Otso debate challenge: 'Bring it on'

MANILA, Philippines — Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) senatorial candidates told their Otso Diretso counterparts that they were prepared for debates.

Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said he was ready to face Otso Diretso any time. 

“Bring it on! They’re going for broke,” Dela Rosa told The STAR.

Dela Rosa maintained that a candidate is not measured by his debating skills but by what he has done for the country. 

“Improving the country is done through action and not words. You’re good at debates but you haven’t done anything,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino. 

PDP-Laban president and reelectionist Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino agreed with Dela Rosa.

But Pimentel said they could not participate in all the debates due to their hectic campaign schedule. 

“Political rallies are also good venues to present our platform of government,” Pimentel told The STAR in Filipino.

PDP-Laban bets former presidential aide Christopher Go and Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu were not available for comment. 

PDP-Laban’s MaBaGoKoTo is composed of Mangudadatu, Bato, Go, Koko and Tolentino. 

Otso Diretso is composed of reelectionist Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, Chel Diokno, Samira Gutoc, Florin Hilbay, Romulo Macalintal, Mar Roxas and Erin Tañada.     

Otso Diretso recently invited the PDP-Laban senatorial candidates to a debate so that the public would know their agenda in the Senate and platform of government.

Otso Diretso senatorial bets claimed that the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) coalition, which includes PDP-Laban’s MaBaGoKoTo, “missed a golden opportunity to speak to the nation.”

“They missed the chance to speak to the nation, to explain their platform and to be forthright about their intentions for seeking a Senate seat,” Hilbay, a former solicitor general, said when HNP candidates did not show up at their debate challenge last Sunday at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila.

Diokno, Hilbay and Macalintal added that the administration candidates should wage a genuine campaign by telling the people what they can do at the Senate and not rely on huge tarpaulins and slogans.

“It’s imperative to talk about the issues concerning the citizens. We make laws in the Senate. It’s not just a contest on who has the biggest tarpaulins,” Diokno, a human rights lawyer, said.

Diokno yesterday added that it would be the perfect time to ask Imee Marcos about martial law as the nation commemorated the 33rd year of EDSA people power last Monday.

Tañada said candidates should be transparent and truthful to the people from the start, adding that these are the qualities demanded of public servants.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, campaign manager of HNP, yesterday said staff of the Liberal Party-led Otso Diretso should have sent the other political parties notice about the rules of the debate.

“They can’t just say, ‘let’s have a debate.’ It’s like saying, let’s just have a fistfight,” said Duterte.

“If there will be a debate, there should have been an agreement just like what professionals do,” she added.

4Ps

Meanwhile, reelectionist Sen. Sonny Angara yesterday called on the government to institutionalize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or conditional cash transfer.

 “In more than a decade, the 4Ps has helped millions of families. Millions of children have been checked up and immunized by doctors, studied and graduated,” Angara said in Filipino.

Data from the Department of Finance showed that there are about 4.4 million active household beneficiaries under the 4Ps as of Jan. 14.

Each household beneficiary received a cash assistance of P200 monthly or a total of P2,400 last year.

This year and in 2020, cash assistance under the unconditional cash transfer program will be increased to P300 per month or a total of P3,600 yearly.

Angara is one of the authors of a bill seeking to institutionalize 4Ps, which is one step closer to becoming a law after the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the measure.

The enrolled bill will be sent to Malacañang for President Duterte’s signature. – With Helen Flores, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Edith Regalado, Cecille Suerte Felipe