Six senatorial candidates faced off in an open air debate last Saturday night at the Liwasang Aurora, Quezon Memorial Circle.
Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros and Grace Poe of coalition ‘TeamPnoy’ attended the event, while Teddy Casino of Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan, Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas Party, and Richard Gordon of United Nationalist Alliance were also there.
Hontiveros said that a debate is necessary and is just like an interview, for it is a way for the boss – in this case the people – to know the person they’re hiring.
The forum was organized by Rappler, entitled as the ‘Rappler Senatorial Debates’. It started at exactly 7:00 pm and ended at 9:00 pm, and was attended by over 1,000 supporters and voters.
The show aired live on the online portal of Rappler (http://www.rappler.com) and on 120 radio stations. Social networking sites were also available for people not in the venue; Facebook users were given a chance to post questions on the Facebook group of Rappler, while a hashtag of #PHVote2013 was used for the event’s Twitter presence.
The arrival time of the senatoriables were also noticed. Aquino, Casino, Hontiveros and Poe were present on time, while Villanueva and Gordon followed for the proceedings. Villanueva arrived a few minutes after the 7 pm expected time arrival, while Gordon arrived at around 7:15 pm.
Why on an open ground?
“We wanted to gather more crowd, and for the forum to be more accessible. This is also a way to make the candidates close to simple and ordinary people,” says Katerina Francisco, a news writer for Rappler.
“The open public area is also chosen to assure [citizens] that the voters can talk to the candidates and for them to express their sentiments to the candidates,” she adds.
In a personal interview with the senatorial candidate, Bro. Eddie Villanueva says that the debate is exciting because he had the chance to share his love for the country and God.
Similarly, Grace Poe mentions in the interview that she was really nervous during the debate. She also highlighted the fact that there were many attendees.
On the other hand, Dick Gordon was not in favor with the venue, dismayed as he was with the behavior of the crowd.
“It could have been handled in a more solemn manner, with no cheering,” Gordon said.
Mechanics
The debate forum worked in three parts.
The first parts included the Introduction and Senator-to-Senator Question and Answer Portion. Each candidate is given 3 minutes for their self-introduction, and a quick view of their vision. After the introduction, the first two candidates who presented will serve as pair wherein Senatoriable A will ask Senatoriable B a question and will be given three minutes to answer; a follow-up question could be entertained. Afterwards, Senatoriable B will have the chance to ask Senatoriable A a question in the same manner and rules.
In part two, each senator was asked two questions, one coming from the social media (Facebook and Twitter), and the other one from the audience.
The last part features the main point of the forum. Each of the senatoriables were given another three minutes to answer the question: “Why should we vote for you?”
The twist includes Rappler’s mood meter, which gauges the crowd’s mood according to the answers posited by the senatoriables. Random people from the crowd were chosen to grade the candidates’ answers. After a candidate answers a questio, a result of the mood meter, either one of the moods Inspired, Annoyed, Angry, Sad or Happy, appears to show the response.
