Bello urges Comelec to impose tougher penalties on debate skippers

Vice presidential candidate Professor Walden Bello on Tuesday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to impose “real strong” penalties against Eleksyon 2022 candidates who will not participate in the debates organized by the poll body.

Bello made the remark after Comelec chairperson Socorro Inting on Monday said that those who will skip the Comelec-sponsored debates will lose their slots in the poll body's e-rally platforms until the end of the campaign period.

Bello said the tandem of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who has been reluctant to attend election debates, might just be laughing at the Comelec because of this.

“This not appearing in the Comelec e-rally that is watched by at the most a few hundred people, that’s not a penalty at all. The Comelec just makes a joke of itself by imposing what really is a non-penalty,” he said.

“If you’re going to have a penalty, you have a penalty that [is] strong that the candidate that does not show up will have to think twice or three times or four times,” he added.

Bello previously called the presidential daughter a "coward like Bongbong Marcos" for refusing to face the public in one of the vice presidential debates.

Duterte’s camp has since then said they would campaign for the vice presidency without attending debates, and would woo voters on the campaign trail instead.

Meanwhile, Marcos said he was not yet sure if he would join the Comelec debate as he was “still looking at the format.”

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez previously said the poll body will inform the 2022 presidential and vice presidential candidates which general topics will be tackled at the debate set in March.

The Partido Lakas ng Masa standard bearers are set to hold their campaign sorties in Davao City on March 15.

“If Sara Duterte wants to debate with me in Davao City itself, I’ll be very happy to do that,” Bello added.—LDF, GMA News