Filipinos worldwide tuned in to watch nine senatorial hopefuls air their platforms and stand on issues during the first leg of Harapan 2019: The ABS-CBN Senatorial Town Hall Debate, which obtained the number 1 spot in Twitter’s top trends for the Philippines last Sunday night, and came in second in the list of trending topics worldwide.
Participating candidates were Bam Aquino, Glenn Chong, Chel Diokno, Larry Gadon, Samira Gutoc, Florin Hilbay, Jiggy Manicad, Willie Ong, and Francis Tolentino.
Meanwhile, more candidates are set to join the following debates tonight at 7:00 live on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel, DZMM TeleRadyo, ABS-CBN’s Sunday’s Best, and ABS-CBN News’ online platforms. Another debate will be aired live at 7:00 p.m. on March 3.
Included in lineup are Gary Alejano, Rafael Alunan, Neri Colmenares, Bato dela Rosa, JV Ejercito, Romy Macalintal, Zajid Mangudadatu, Serge Osmeña, Mar Roxas, and Erin Tañada.
The first round of the debates centered on the candidates’ credentials and platforms, and four issues brought forward by regular Filipinos—a contractual employee, a husband of an OFW, a doctor participating in medical missions, and a former youth offender—who were present at the debate. They asked the candidates to present their stand and proposed solutions to issues on labor, inflation, health care, and the age of criminal responsibility.
Anchors Karen Davila and Alvin Elchico also grilled all the candidates in a Fast Talk round, where each of the senatorial hopefuls had two minutes to answer various questions on issues concerning them, LGBTQ rights, divorce, federalism, candidacy requirements, traffic, transportation, peace and order, territorial disputes, human rights, the use of medical marijuana, corruption, the Bangsamoro Organic Law, constituent assembly, and more.
The “Fast Talk” round, in particular, was a hit with netizens, many of whom discussed and debated on the candidates’ answers over social media.
Harapan 2019: The ABS-CBN Senatorial Town Hall Debate is part of ABS-CBN’s comprehensive coverage for Halalan 2019.
