Candidates don't hold back punches in lone VP debate

Far from being outdone by their counterparts in the presidential race, the six candidates threw solid verbal punches and blows in the vice presidential leg of the PiliPinas Debates 2016 on Sunday at University of Santo Tomas.

The debate had barely started when tension kicked in, not between the candidates but rather between Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos and hecklers in the audience.

"Never again!" shouted the hecklers, briefly preventing Marcos from starting his opening speech. The lawmaker's supporters, however, fired back and chanted their bet's initials "BBM! BBM!," drowning out the sound of the hecklers as they were ushered out of the venue.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano picked up where the hecklers left off, firing off a volley of tirades against his opponents, first taking aim at Marcos.

Cayetano brought up the $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth that the Marcos family allegedly looted from government. Cayetano also brought up the latest charges that Marcos allegedly channeled P205 million of his pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations of alleged mastermind Janet Napoles.

After stressing how he consistently probed graft in government through Senate hearings, Cayetano scored Marcos for not attending corruption hearings.

“Senator Marcos, nasaan ka kapag korapsyon ang pinag-uusapan? Wala ka sa mga hearing,” he said.

Marcos responded that those anti-corruption hearings in the Senate are only used by his fellow senators to boost their ratings.

“Dahil maliwanang na maliwanag sa akin na doon ang kanilang ginagawa ay hindi anti-corruption kundi pamumulitika. Hindi po ako sasama sa ganyang klaseng pamumulitika na itinitaya at ginagamit ang dapat pantulong sa ating mga kababayan ang pumumulitika ang kunwari ay anti-corruption para itaas lamang ang sariling bangko?” he said.

Duterte's pick

Marcos, in turn, took a swipe at Cayetano by pointing out Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte's seeming endorsement of Marcos' candidacy earlier this year.

“Sinabi ni Mayor Digong, ika niya, kapag hindi nalutas ang problema ng krimen in three to six months, ibibigay daw niya ang pagkapangulo kay Bongbong. Iyon sinabi niya. Hindi po sinabi na ibibigay niya kay Senator Alan,” he said.

Cayetano is Duterte’s running mate, while Marcos’ is running with Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

But other supporters, especially in the Ilocos region—the bailiwick of the Marcoses, have been campaigning for a Duterte and Marcos tandem.

Despite this, Cayetano said that he remained Duterte’s choice for vice president.

“Iyong sinabi ni Mayor Digong, kaharap ang mga Ilokano mayors. He was being playful. Pero ang sinabi po niya all over the country, ‘Kapag hindi mo iboboto si Alan, huwag mo akong iboto.’ Pero, hindi ko po tinatanggap iyan kasi siya ang kailangan natin. Ako, kahit hindi n’yo iboto, 100 percent, Duterte,” he said. 

Cayetano accused Marcos of changing allies depending on where he was campaigning.

“Si Bongbong, kapag nasa Cavite, Bongbong-Binay; kung Ilocos, Binay or Poe-Marcos; kapag nasa Mindanao, Duterte-Bongbong. Iyan po ang klase ng pamumulitika niya. Isasaksak niya ang presidente para siya magiging presidente. Ako, huwag n’yo na akong presidente, alalay nalang ako ni Mayor Duterte,” he said.

To this, Marcos just responded: “Kasalanan ko po ba kung ang mga kaalyado niya eh mas gusto sa akin?”

Marcos and Aquino

While defending himself against Cayetano on the PDAF issue, Marcos turned the tables on the Aquino administration, which he had previously accused of selective justice.

"Kung may ebidensya man laban sa 'kin [about the pork barrel scam], alam natin gagamitin ng pamahalaan ito. You must remember, I am a Marcos and the president is an Aquino," Marcos said.

Marcos' statement was an apparent allusion to a controversial and similar statement made by Mar Roxas, the Liberal Party's standard bearer, to Marcos' uncle, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez.

Trillanes grills Cayetano

Curiously, Cayetano and Marcos are two of three vice presidential bets who are members of the Nacionalista Party. The third one, Trillanes, also got his licks in, questioning Cayetano over Duterte's campaign promises.

Trillanes pointed out that despite Duterte's tough talk about making his hometown safe, Davao City is fourth among cities with the most number of total index crimes from 2010-2015.

"Iyong Davao City, fourth siya sa highest na krimen dito sa bansa. So kung hindi mo nga natapos, hindi natapos ni Mayor Duterte na more than 20 years iyong krimen sa kanyang bakuran, hindi natin pinag-uusapan ang murder ah, rape at other index crimes, papaano niya sasabihin na six months? Huwag tayong magbolahan dito. Kumbaga mag-present ka ng plano para fair naman sa ibang tumatakbo," Trillanes said.

Cayetano said it was impossible for Duterte to rid Davao City of all crimes because he wasn't president yet.

"That’s why we said we will suppress crime. The reason why it is not completely gone or completely suppressed is simple: Hindi naman presidente si Mayor Duterte.

Familiar target

Trillanes also trained his guns at a more familiar target earlier in the debate, bringing into the discussion the running mate of Sen. Gringo Honasan, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Along with Cayetano, Trillanes was part of a Senate panel that probed Binay for alleged corruption during his stint as mayor of Makati City.

Responding to Honasan's point for the need to settle corruption allegations before a court of law, Trillanes said the lawmaker was just echoing Binay's answer.

"With all due respect but I would have to disagree kasi yan ang linya ni Vice President Binay palagi. Ganito po yan, in my case, ako po ay nag-imbestiga, ako po ay imbestigador. Nakita ko po ang mga dokumento at sa aking paniniwala na si Vice President Binay ay nangurakot. Nobody can change that, yan po ang aking paniniwala," Trillanes said.

Binay, who went to the University of Santo Tomas to show his support for running mate Honasan, was later caught on camera jeering Trillanes.

PDAF, FOI debate

Sen. Chiz Escudero and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, meanwhile, tussled on two separate occasions over the use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Freedom of Information Bill.

Robredo asked Escudero if he fought to remove discretion on the use of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) when he served as a congressman.

“Binanggit po kasi ni Senator Chiz na iyong essence ng korapsyon ay discretion, dapat tinatanggal ang diskresyon sa aming mga public officials para hindi magkaroon ng maraming puwang sa korapsyon. Ang tanong ko po, nakapatagal na niyang congressman, nakapatagal na niyang senador, nakinabang sa PDAF na diskresyon din. Anong ginawa niya para matanggal iyong diskresyon?” she said.

But Escudero replied that he was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance that implemented the decision of the Supreme Court to abolish PDAF.

“In fact, sinulat po namin sa GAA mismo iyong eksakto mga salita at pangugusap sa desiyon ng Korte, sa kauna-unahang General Appropriations Act na nagbawal sa PDAF. Chairman po ako ng Commitee on Finance sa Senado na gumawa noon,” he said.

Robredo said that the Lower House also did the same and asked him again about his PDAF use during his term as representative of the first district of Sorsogon from 1998 to 2007.

Escudero said that he did not receive PDAF during that time because he was part of the opposition.

“Ako po, siyam na taon akong walang PDAF sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni [former President Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo dahil lamang pinaglaban ko ang katotohanan at kalayaan ng ating halalan. Hindi siguro isyu ang PDAF dahil sa mahabang panahon na ako ay kongresista, wala pong na-release sa akin na PDAF sa ilalalim ng administrasyon ni Pangulong Arroyo,” he said.

Prior to that, Robredo claimed that her version of the FOI bill in the House was better than that passed in the Senate, which was authored by Escudero.

"Ang version ko ng FOI ay kaiba sa version ng Senado," she said, noting her version was not just demand-driven, but also required government agencies to disclose information to the public.

Escudero belied this.

"May nais lang akong liwanagin na nabanggit kanina. Ako ang pangunahing author ng FOI sa senado. Hindi totoong demand-driven 'yun. Kung may pagkakaiba man sa version ng Senado at Kongreso, kami sa senado ay matagal na namin pinasa sa FOI bill. Sa Kongreso natutulog pa rin," he said. —with Trisha Macas/Virgil Lopez/Amita Legaspi/JST, GMA News