EDITORIAL - Why not a debate?

A hefty chunk of campaign expenditures goes to selling candidates through mass media. Some candidates are even willing to pay just to be interviewed on radio and television. Air time is precious, and any candidate with a message to send to the electorate should welcome the opportunity for a debate with rivals, to be carried live by the broadcasting networks.

That debate among all the presidential aspirants, tentatively set next month, has to push through not just for the promotion of the candidates. Voters want to get to know better those who think they are good enough to lead the nation for the next six years. The nation faces enormous challenges, and people want to know how the presidential aspirants intend to deal with these problems. The current crop of aspirants for the presidency may be underwhelming, but voters should at least be able to pick the lesser evil come May 10.

Front-runner Fernando Poe Jr. may see no need for a televised debate. Having been a movie superstar for much of his life, he thinks he does not need mass media exposure. But more than any of his rivals – except for Eddie Gil whose candidacy has become the butt of jokes – Poe is the one who must show up at the debate. His ideas on anything beyond a movie script are a mystery to the nation. If he wants to lead this country, he owes it to the people to articulate his views on matters beyond acting and the box office. That suggestion from his camp to hold the debate in the slums, where any debate is likely to be drowned out by heckling and rotten tomatoes tossed at his rivals by his die-hard fans, betrays an infantile grasp of the serious problems facing this nation – an ugly portent of what’s in store in a Poe presidency.

The debate can be carried out in whatever language the candidate wants to use, and must be moderated by competent, unbiased interviewers who will give each candidate fair treatment. A debate is not a waste of time; it becomes a necessity when the mind of a candidate is perceived to be tabula rasa. Any person scared of a televised debate has no business applying for the highest government position in this country.