Otso Diretso bets: Platforms, advocacies can't be explained through song, dance performances

For candidates under the Otso Diretso opposition coalition, the advocacies and platforms being pushed by senatorial aspirants cannot be explained through song and dance performances during campaign sorties or enormous posters.

The opposition senatorial bets made the remark on Thursday as candidates in the administration-backed Hugpong ng Pagbabago (NHP) continue to evade their challenge to go on a debate with them.

In an interview after "Otso Diretso" bets filed a letter urging the Commission on Elections to organize and facilitate a debate with HNP candidates, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said senatorial aspirants like him should be given the opportunity to discuss the platforms and issues they are carrying in a public forum.

"Kung talagang iyan ay makabubuti sa bayan, aba’y pag debatehan natin. Pag-usapan yan at para malaman ng taong bayan ano ang kanilang mga posisyon sa bagay na yan, at bakit yan naipasa na nagpapahirap ngayon sa ating bansa," he said.

"Hindi pwedeng maipaliwanag yan sa pamamagitan ng pagsasayaw, ng pagkakanta-kanta lamang sa entablado at pagkaway-kaway lamang, o sa pamamagitan ng mga poster," he added.

For her part, Marawi civic leader and senatorial bet Samira Gutoc said the elections is a matter of platforms, not "cinema."

"Plataporma hindi sinehan ang ating ginagawa ngayong eleksyon dapat. We should raise the standards of applying for public office. Aplikante kami ng mga tao. Kami dapat ay nagsu-subject sa public opinion," Gutoc said.

Former Solicitor General and senatorial aspirant Florin Hilbay echoed Gutoc's sentiment, saying that candidates like him should be subject to public scrutiny.

"May isang tumatakbo diyan, pinipilit nyang graduate sya ng UP Law, na graduate siya ng Princeton [University]. Pero kapag tinatanong sya, tumatakbo dun sa press," Hilbay said as an example, in an apparent reference to fellow candidate Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos.

"Sa tingin ko, dapat yung mga tumatakbo, willing dapat sila na magpabilad doon sa taong bayan. To subject themselves to public scrutiny," he added.

The Otso Diretso candidates earlier issued a debate challenge to HNP candidates which was supposed to be held at Plaza Miranda on Monday.

No HNP senatorial candidate, however, showed up at the venue.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who serves as HNP campaign manager, earlier said her candidates were willing to take on debates, but this should be handled by a third-party entity. —LDF, GMA News