Laeno, Erose Marlo C.

2012-0014

Vice Presidential Debate

Elections have always been a thing of curiosity in the Philippines. It probably

is the only government-supported contest where the candidates are impliedly
encouraged to try to win the position, not based on the merits or on their
qualifications alone, but more importantly, on how less qualified the other
candidates can be made to appear. To this end, various tactics and mechanisms
have been utilized by all sorts of politicians over the years, and sadly, this debate
devolved into one of them.
In determining which of the six candidates performed better than the others,
consideration must be given to the following criteria: the ability to give responsive
answers to the main questions propounded to them, the ability to give a meaningful
cross-examination of another participants answer when the situation called for it,
the ability to give a sufficient rebuttal thereto, and finally, the overall presentation
of oneself as a vice presidential candidate.
With respect to the first criterion, all the candidates were able to sufficiently
comply thereto, when asked the more clichd and overused issues [economic
growth, peace in Mindanao, corruption, poverty reduction, foreign policy]. Of course,
that was to be expected. These issues have been, time and again, asked of
candidates in every election, thus, they were able to aptly prepare their answers.
For any person who has ever been exposed to a campaign period, it would be easy
to see that there really was nothing new in the solutions they proposed. More
interesting however was how the candidates responded to the questions of traffic
congestion, improving urban transportation and development within the next six
years, and freeing up the telecommunications market for competition.
On the issue of traffic congestion, the one sustainable answer was given by
Honasan, while the most innovative, relatively speaking, was given by Trillanes. As
for the second issue, none of the candidates actually addressed the main
consideration of the proponent, which was the feasibility of completing whatever
their proposed project was within six years. And as for the third, the only candidate
who even came close to what was being asked was Honasan. For all others, though
their answers sounded good, the same had no actual value, with respect to the
question to which they were supposed to correspond, either for being trite,
ineffective, or for being the same answer as another candidates.
With respect to the second and third criteria, special mention should be given
to Cayetano. In his attempt to showcase himself, he would often go over the line,
and hammer on matters which were truly unconnected with the question, or with
arguments presented by the other candidates. Notably on the other end of the
spectrum was Honasan, who I believe never actively moved to counter any of the
arguments presented by the other candidates, and only reacted to questions thrown
at him. To be honest, I much preferred the latters style. While I understand
Cayetanos desire to elucidate to the masses just how unfit everyone else is to be
vice president, I believe voters can perfectly make that conclusion themselves
without his help. I would have preferred that he showed more of his
accomplishments, experiences, and qualifications, rather than continually pointing
out the other candidates shortcomings, and opening the door to squabbling
amongst them.

Laeno, Erose Marlo C.

2012-0014

Vice Presidential Debate

Finally, on the last criteria, the most dignified out of all the candidates by the
end of the debate were Honasan and Rubredo, for being able to maintain a certain
amount of level-headedness. A cool composure is one of the most necessary traits
that a leader should have; for if a simple thing as a debate can rattle their
demeanor, how much worse off would they be when finally be dealing with the
pressures of the position of vice president? Tallying up all the good marks I have
given, I come to the conclusion that as far as this debate is concerned, Honasan
appears to be the best of the six candidates. Now as to whether this impression
would be sustained until election day, I am unsure, especially considering who his
running mate is, and what can still be done by the opposition to change public
opinion on Honasan himself.