(PNA file photo)
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said six presidential aspirants and four vice presidential candidates in the May 9 polls are joining the "PiliPinas Forum 2022" interview series to be aired next week.
According to Comelec Commissioner George Garcia, those who confirmed attendance at the event are presidentiables Ernesto Abella, Leody de Guzman, Norberto Gonzales, Faisal Mangondato, Jose Montemayor, and Senator Manny Pacquiao.
The vice-presidential bets who are also set to participate in the forum are Rizalito David, Manny Lopez, Senate President Tito Sotto, and Carlos Serapio.
"It's the final list," he said in a text message.
The Comelec, together with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), will be holding the panel interview sessions set to air from May 2 to 6, 2022.
The forum is a series of one-hour panel interview sessions between a single candidate or team of candidates (president and vice-president), to be conducted by a panel of broadcast anchors drawn from KBP-member networks.
The main body of the interview will be divided into three segments, with each segment being devoted to an interactive discussion between the candidate and the panel.
The first segment (10 minutes) will tackle inflation, poverty, jobs, wages, livelihood, and business.
The second segment (10 minutes) will revolve around education, healthcare, and Covid-19 response.
The third segment (12 minutes) will then touch on a variety of current issues, such as red-tagging, press freedom, attacks on civil society, attacks on mainstream media, fake news, e-sugal, electoral reforms, gender issues, political dynasties, dealing with disasters and calamities, use of nuclear energy, resurrecting the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, foreign policy, judicial reforms, and appointees.
The participants will be given a choice if they want to conduct the interview either live and in-person; live and via teleconference call, or taped live with no editing.
The Comelec and KBP will conduct draw lots to determine the order of sessions, whether live or recorded.
The interviews will be aired from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, from May 2 to 6, 2022 by Bombo Radyo Philippines, Radio Mindanao Network, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. (Teleradyo and ANC), TV5 Network Inc. (One PH and OneNews), CNN Philippines, and Radyo Pilipino, among others.
Those who decided to skip the event are presidential aspirants Senator Ping Lacson, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Vice President Leni Robredo.
Also not attending the activity are vice presidential candidates Lito Atienza, Walden Bello, Sara Duterte, Willie Ong, and Senator Kiko Pangilinan.
Garcia said conflict of schedules or having previous commitments are the reasons for those who decided not to attend the event.
The PiliPinas Forum 2022 replaces the foiled PiliPinas Debates 2022, which is a series of five debates after the private partner, Impact Hub Manila, encountered financial issues with Sofitel Hotel, the events’ venue.
The first three debates were held last March 19 and April 3 (presidential) and March 20 (vice-presidential). (PNA)
