PRESIDENTIAL candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte threatened to skip the first presidential debate in Cagayan de Oro if local journalists are not given equal access to the debate sanctioned by the Commission on Elections.
“I will not go there also if it would be that way [and] you limit [the press],” Duterte said, referring to the presidential debate to be held at the gym of the Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro on Feb. 21.
“The reason why I am running for president is because I want people from the provinces to be given equal treatment. That is why I am for federalism,” Duterte said after the Cagayan de Oro Press Club threatened to boycott the debate.
Although the debate is sanctioned by the Comelec, it is sponsored by the GMA Broadcasting Corp, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas.
However, the COPC complained that only five seats were allotted for provincial-based editors or publishers at the venue and another five slots for five newspaper reporters at the media center, a separate venue where a video monitor would broadcast feeds of the debate.
The rest of the audience would be ushered to the Capitol University gym that could accommodate 5,000 people.
Duterte urged the Comelec to meet with the different press clubs of the host cities and “strike a win-win solution” because local journalists should not be treated like second-class citizens in their own communites.
However, Duterte said he has yet to meet with Partidong Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan president Senator Aquilino Pimentel III to talk about the debate although he was hoping to meet with Pimentel soon.
But the ruling Liberal Party said Duterte was only making an excuse not to participate in the debate.
“Well, if Mayor Duterte has found another excuse not to [participate] in the debates, then ok congratulations to him,” Gutierrez told reporters at the LP headquarters in Quezon City, adding that the local media, debate organizers and the Comelec should be able to resolve the problem arising from Saturday’s debate.
“The journalists should take it up with the Comelec,” Gutierrez said. “While we don’t have any involvement [because] we were just invited, it’s better for the Comelec to answer these issues.”
