Presidential hopefuls banter, joke around during breaks

Exchanges may have been heated during Sunday's first PiliPinas Debate, but once the broadcast went to a commercial break the candidates turned affable, exchanging banter and funny stories with each other and the moderators.

Even before the debate started, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago joked around with host Mike Enriquez as she checked her podium, drawing laughter from the audience.

When administration presidential bet Mar Roxas took a swipe at his opponents in his opening speech, in which he characterized his fellow candidates as the wrong people to have behind the wheel of a vehicle, a commercial break saw Roxas exchange jokes with Poe as they both laughed.

Poe, for her part, bantered with Duterte several times during the breaks.

Duterte himself was very relaxed with the sleeves of his Barong Tagalog rolled up. He was so relaxed that he would sit down and put his feet up during commercial breaks.

Santiago was the first to sit after delivering her speech, while the other candidates waited for the commercial break before taking a seat. The senator was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2014 but she claimed she had beaten the illness.

Binay, however, was the only candidate who did not sit during the break. Instead, he would leave his podium, to take a drink of water, his staff explained.

The Vice President was also seen switching off the electric fan near him. — DVM, GMA News