by Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday expressed hope that the next presidential debates organized by TV stations would be more “educated” and give candidates more time to speak otherwise it will just be a waste of expenses.
Recalling his experience as a presidential candidate in 2016, Duterte said they were only given a limited time to talk and failed to articulate themselves completely.
“I hope that the next presidential debates in the coming years would be a more educated one, give all the time to the candidates to expound and talk about the issues, the one to bring to the people,” Duterte said during the PDP-Laban campaign rally at Divine Word College in Bangued, Abra.
“Otherwise, it’s just an exercise of money and you know expenses are — they do not come easy,” he added.
Duterte also criticized how TV stations only used the debates to “rake money” by giving candidates only several minutes to speak while intermissions took up most of the airtime.
“Yung magi-sponsor ng tawag nilang (The ones sponsoring so-called) presidential debates, dialogue, discourse, it’s actually para lang magkakaroon ng pera ‘yan (just to earn money),” Duterte said.
“You raked the money but you know if you just give a candidate an hour — ah a minute and a half rather — walang masasabi ‘yan (they have barely anything to say), then the intermissions and everything,” he added.
Duterte, known for giving hour-long speeches, said he had to end his turn to speak early because each candidate had more than a minute to speak.
“Kaya ako (That’s why me,) I had to end my speeches early, delivered short ideas because I know I do not have the time,” Duterte said.
In the same speech, Duterte trumpeted anew the achievements under his administration, stressing that he only failed to address the traffic situation on Edsa because Congress refused to grant his request of emergency powers.
Duterte also campaigned for senate bets from PDP-Laban, other bets on his personal slate and criticized members of the political opposition.
