Gordon to media: Where have all the debates gone?

“We should have more debates.” Bagumbayan standard-bearer Sen. Richard Gordon said on Monday that with the campaign period entering the homestretch, media companies should be organizing more debates, particularly among presidential candidates.


Bagumbayan standard-bearer Sen. Richard Gordon said on Monday that with the campaign period entering the homestretch, media companies should be organizing more debates, particularly among presidential candidates.
“The media is losing by default and our people are the biggest losers,” said Gordon.
TV network ABS-CBN was supposed to air a presidential debate live two weeks ago but this was scrapped two days before air time after some candidates backed out.
Gordon, who had confirmed his attendance at the debate, said upon learning of the cancellations: “Those who refuse to join debates show that they cannot stand the pressure of facing the people.”
On Monday, he told reporters that candidates who declined invitations to debate were “idiots.”
It is the right of the voters to question those begging for their votes, according to Gordon.
“Can’t we ask Noynoy (Aquino) what his track record is? Can’t we ask (Manny) Villar about the C-5 controversy?”
“Candidates should demonstrate not only their ability to spend money or their ability to use their family (to campaign) but also their capability (to lead),” he added.
He said the scandals involving Villar and Aquino would continue to hound them even if one of them became president.
“How could they concentrate on working if there are issues they could not answer [in debates]?” he said.
He said Aquino should explain why his family owned more than 4,500 hectares of land when ordinary Filipino families could not afford 50 square meters.
He said Villar should also explain the big loans his companies received from the Government Service Insurance System for his subdivisions that got the GSIS into financial trouble.
He asked: “Who would you rather look for jobs for our people? Who has the credibility to get business for this country –Noynoy, Villar or Gordon?”