The virtual debate of the Bacolod mayoral aspirants and Negros Occidental gubernatorial bets will push through on Saturday as scheduled, the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Association – Negros Occidental Chapter said Wednesday, January 12.
It said the debate is being held virtually as a health precaution amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Wednesday elevated Bacolod City to Alert Level 3.
UPLAA-NO, the debate organizing committee, issued the statement in response to the call of the camp of Mayor Evelio Leonardia for a face-to-face debate instead.
“Debate Eleksyon 2022” between Bacolod mayoral aspirants Leonardia and Albee Benitez and gubernatorial bets Eugenio Jose Lacson, Juan Orola Jr. and Ma Socorro Sibulan. via Zoom is set from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday, to be aired live on the UPLAA-NO, University of Saint La Salle, Inquirer.net and INQ Plus Facebook pages.
Leonardia is pushing for a face-to-face or a one-on-one discussion of issues with his rival, “otherwise, the word debate organizers are using, becomes a misnomer”, a statement from his camp said.
Benitez, on the other hand, said he is “ready anytime, anywhere to face anyone” in whatever format to discuss problems and concerns for the improvement of Bacolod, especially the welfare of Bacolodnons.
He was only invited to the debate by the organizers whose intention is to provide voters’ education, Benitez said.
Benitez said he will follow the format and mechanics of the debate organizers.
In the light of the rising COVID-19 cases the organizers felt it was more prudent to go virtual, he added.
Governor Lacson will also join the debate, he was prepared for this two years ago, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
Leonardia agreed 100 percent to attend the January 15 debate of mayoralty candidates organized by the UPLAA-NO at the University of St. La Salle, a press statement from his camp said.
But his camp is objecting to a virtual debate, pointing out that his rival might be aided by a teleprompter or employ a team that will prompt him how to give his responses, the statement said.
“We will certainly attend the debate. But we want the rules to be fair and square,” it added.
“We do not question the impartiality in the crafting of debate rules. We also don’t want to pay attention to observations made by some quarters either that there appears to be bias here in favor of the rival,” it said.
UPLAA-NO, in response, said: ”We also wish to convey to you that we take exception to sly and baseless imputations of unfairness and bias against the organizing institutions.”
“We hope you appreciate the efforts we are making here in organizing this event and accord us the respect due us,” it added.
This first ever virtual townhall debate is being organized to elevate discussions around issues and to provide a platform for candidates to make known their positions on various issues, among others, UPLAA-NO said.
The invitations for this virtual event were sent to all candidates for mayor of Bacolod City and governor of Negros Occidental,” based on the mechanics we designed, and mindful of health and safety issues,” it added.
UPLAA-NO reiterated that with the current surge of COVID cases in the past days reaching a record high positivity rate of 44 percent and daily cases of 33,000, the highest since the pandemic started two years ago, these considerations remain paramount.
“We will thus maintain a virtual debate via zoom and live streamed on FB on Saturday, Jan 15, as originally indicated in our letter invitation dated 30 October 2021,” it added.
“We believe that our virtual debate on Saturday will be one of the many debates and face-offs that the local candidates will have. Should circumstances positively change, we would be happy to support a face-to-face debate that may be organized in the future,” UPLAA-NO said.
“We look forward to a healthy discussion among candidates around the important issues that beset us in the city and in the province,” it said.*