5 presidential candidates expected in last leg of PiliPinas Debates 2016

All five presidential candidates have confirmed attendance to the last leg of the PiliPinas Debates 2016 series, organizers said Thursday. 

The debate will be held at the University of  Pangasinan on Sunday, Apr. 24, two weeks before the elections.

The candidates — Vice President Jejomar Binay, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, Mar Roxas and Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago — will also be given an opportunity to ask each other questions in one round of the debate.

According to organizing network ABS-CBN, a candidate will get to choose who he or she would like to ask.

Their questions must be framed within the premise: "Dahil ikaw ang isang kandidato at botante rin, anong isyu o tanong ang nais mong sagutin ng iyong katunggali?"

The last of the three presidential debates enabled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be in town hall format.

Topics to be covered by the debate include:

• job security
• health
• foreign policy
• basic public education
• OFW concerns
• Mindanao issues.

According to Francis Toral, ABS-CBN head of Breaking News and Live Events, they confirmed over a thousand questions sent via mail, social media, and text messaging. 

"We trimmed them down to seven issues for the debate. Seven people will be brought to Pangasinan, they'll be there on Sunday to ask the issues," she said.

Along with ABS-CBN, the last debate is organized by the Manila Bulletin and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas.

In line with a recent Supreme Court decision, livestreaming of the debate will be made available to the websites of other media organizations. — RSJ, GMA News