The first televised presidential debate — between Raul Roco and Eddie Villanueva last Monday night — turned out to be a dud, with both sides having no issue to clash over.
In the debate, dubbed "Tapatan sa Halalan 2004: Population Control, Poverty and Human Development," Roco and Villanueva agreed that the nation’s population growth rate should be slowed down and that couples be given the option to use contraceptives.
Roco and Villanueva also agreed the government should give more emphasis on providing education and drastically curb corruption in government.
Each candidate was given a minute and a half to answer questions from a three-member panel. The latter part of the program was a "free for all" with the audience throwing in questions.
One panelist, university professor Ernesto Pernia, told reporters after the program that the discussion was more a forum than a debate. "There was no clash of ideas," he said.
Pernia was not satisfied with the candidates’ answers "because they didn’t go to particulars, maybe due to the time limit."
There was "not enough time to elaborate and be specific," Pernia said. "That was the problem with that debate. I think there should have been an opportunity for more follow up questions so that you can pin down the presidential candidates. But there was no opportunity for that."
The only sparks came from Roco, who criticized the presidential candidates who skipped the debate — President Arroyo, Fernando Poe Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
"It is important for the candidate to communicate with the people. If you are sincere, why get afraid to face the people? Those who are not here should be forgotten," Roco said in his opening statement.
The debate was organized to enable candidates to explain their programs of government in detail, to contest their rivals’ viewpoints, and be scrutinized by the nation so voters can make intelligent choices come May.
Mrs. Arroyo, who has been highlighting Poe’s lack of public office experience, backed out following the actor’s steady refusal to participate in any debate.
Critics say Poe has been avoiding any discussion on how he intends to run the country to hide his shortcomings.
Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to skip the debate prompted Lacson, an Arroyo nemesis, not to show up as well.
The nationally televised debate was organized by the Committee on Population and Development, Philippine Legislators, Philippine Political Science Association and Pulse Asia Inc.
Roco’s and Villanueva’s stands on contraceptives runs against the stand of the influential Roman Catholic Church, which holds sway over the predominantly Catholic nation.
While agreeing that the country’s needs to rein in the population growth rate to avoid worsening the poverty problem, the Catholic Church frowns on the use of contraceptives in line with its beliefs.
Critics contend that the Church’s stand was not realistic.
"The government has the absolute responsibility in providing a massive educational campaign, especially for parents, on choosing the right size of family," said Villanueva, a Christian preacher and founder of Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide.
Roco, a former education secretary in the Arroyo administration, said couples have the right to choose whether to use artificial contraceptives.
"There’s actually no need to debate on this. It’s in the Constitution. And there should never be coercion in implementing population management. It’s up to the couple to decide in accordance with their conscience and religious beliefs," he said.
Under pressure from the Catholic Church, the government stopped promoting contraceptives as part of its population control program shortly after President Arroyo — a devout Catholic — took office in January 2001.
Government statistics put the country’s population at 84 million, close to half living on less than the daily minimum wage each day.
Poor couples tend to have more than two children, aggravating the country’s massive poverty problem.
With two million Filipinos born each year, the population is expected to reach nearly 93 million by 2010, according to government experts.
Roco and Villanueva also emphasized the need to drastically curb corruption, saying it greatly hindered the country’s economic recovery efforts.
"If we curb corruption, then we will have the money for population and education," Roco said.
Various international agencies have expressed concern about massive corruption in the Philippines, which analysts say has discouraged foreign investors.
Independent estimates suggest at least a fifth of the government budget is lost through graft.