There were many memorable answers from Sunday’s senatorial town hall debate hosted by ABS-CBN, which had nine of this year’s senatorial candidates answering questions from moderators and regular citizens alike.
This included Senator Bam Aquino; human rights lawyer Chel Diokno; former Solicitor General of the Philippines Florin Hilbay; Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc; physician Dr. Willie Ong; lawyer Larry Gadon; former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad; former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Francis Tolentino; and former Biliran Representative and lawyer Glenn Chong.
Senator Koko Pimentel, like Aquino, also up for re-election, was supposed to be part of the debate, but said he had personal matters to attend to.
It was a pretty straightforward event, but we’ve gathered some of the funniest, most memorable, and most WTF-inducing answers below for those who might have missed it.
The funny
Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno
If a boat is sinking and human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno had to choose between saving President Rodrigo Duterte and former president and current House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who would he choose?
Neither, apparently, as Diokno said that he would rather save himself.
Asked who he would give the one life vest to between Duterte and Arroyo while inside the hypothetical sinking boat, he said: “Oh no, can’t it just be mine?”
It drew big laughs from the audience at the forum and online.
Diokno is the son of late former Senator Jose “Pepe” Diokno. He is the founding dean of De La Salle University’s College of Law and part of the opposition senatorial slate called Otso Diretso. The opposition coalition is a team up of the Liberal Party, Akbayan Partylist, Magdalo Partylist, Aksyon Demokratiko Party, Tindig Pilipinas, and other cause-oriented groups.
The Liberal Party was the ruling party from 2010 to 2016 when Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was president.
Diokno is a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte. He said in 2017 that the drug war’s extrajudicial killings are a “war against the human system” and a “war on the rule of law,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
Diokno said in the debate that he will decline any position should the Duterte administration offer him one, because he does not agree with the president’s policies.
Samira Gutoc
When asked if senatorial hopefuls should have college degrees to run, the Mindanaoan peace advocate said “yes” and highlighted the importance of knowledge and education with a savage burn.
“We have a lot of [senators] who are just artistahin and aren’t able to make laws, ” she said in Filipino.
Artistahin means people who are good looking enough to be actors and actresses. This isn’t just a metaphor, as it isn’t uncommon for Filipinos to elect actors to public office.
Case in point is this video posted by Rappler, which shows some women saying that they will vote for actor and former senator Bong Revilla in the midterm elections because he’s handsome and kind. This, even though he is currently linked to a plunder case.
Gutoc is part of the opposition senatorial party Otso Diretso.
Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino
Former youth leader and Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino, part of the Otso Diretso coalition, was asked if he would be in favor of another Aquino joining politics. He thought about it for a second and laughed while saying: “Maybe once I’m done, maybe it’s possible again.”
The senator belongs to the Aquino clan – his uncle is the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. while former president Noynoy is his cousin.
When asked what trait he liked most about millennials, he quipped: “Woke. They’re hashtag woke.”
He knows his millennial slang.
The memorable
Dr. Willie Ong
Ong, who has more than 9.4million followers on Facebook, said his top priority is addressing health issues among Filipinos. His suggestion? Introducing so-called telemedicine so doctors can diagnosis patients in far-flung areas.
The doctor, running as a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party, also said that potential health workers should be incentivized with free education and a salary.
He added that the salaries of village health workers and nurses should be increased to lure medical practitioners to the hinterlands.
Francis Tolentino
Tolentino said that he believes retirees and senior citizens should still be given opportunities to work.
He said workers who have retired but still want to work should be allowed to even if they’ve reached the retirement age at 56 to 60.
“What I wish to happen is that our senior citizens, those retirees aged 56 to 60 years old, would be allowed to work again, back in the labor force,” he said.
He is part of ruling party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan.
Glenn Chong
The lawyer and former Biliran Representative, part of the Katipunan ng Demokartikong Pilipino party, bluntly said that politicians do not need pork barrel funds, as “most of them are just stealing [from it] and putting [the money] in their pockets.”
A “pork barrel” is a fund which members of the Philippine Congress are meant to use for priority projects.
When asked if he would like to get endorsements from Duterte or the Catholic church, he said he’d much rather win on his own.
The WTF
Larry Gadon
Gadon introduced himself by telling the audience to “pick a new candidate who isn’t stupid.”
A striking enough line that was quickly overshadowed by an even more controversial one.
The self-proclaimed “true-blooded Marcos loyalist” said in the debate that he doesn’t believe the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos stole money from national coffers. He also said that the Marcoses should not apologize for the human rights violations committed during Marcos’ rule.
This, despite the Presidential Commission on Good Government’s estimate that the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth is between US$5 billion to US$10 billion. Only about PHP170billion (US$3.2 million) has been recovered in the past 30 years.
Gadon is also the person behind the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in 2017. He pointed out Sereno’s failure to be truthful in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), together with tax misdeclarations, and unauthorized expenses under the Supreme Court, Rappler reported.
In April 2018, Gadon was seen hurling expletives and giving the middle finger to Sereno supporters outside the Supreme Court’s summer courthouse in Baguio City. This was before the oral arguments scheduled regarding the case filed against Sereno.
Gadon is part of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party.
Florin Hilbay
Hilbay, part of the Aksyon Demokratiko political party and the opposition coalition Otso Diretso, said that former president Noynoy cannot be held liable for the Mamasapano massacre which led to the death of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) members from the country’s elite police unit in 2015.
“In my opinion, he gave an order to a subordinate, but his subordinate failed to follow his order. A leader can’t be held liable for his subordinate’s failure,” he said.
Noynoy had defended himself by saying the botched anti-terror mission was not his fault, and instead put the blame on former SAF director Getulio Napeñas, who allegedly disobeyed orders to coordinate with the Philippine army.
Jiggy Manicad
Filipino broadcast journalist and senatorial aspirant Jiggy Manicad was asked if it was right that Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was arrested for cyber libel, to which he just answered: “It’s already being handled in court. She should defend herself.”
Manicad, who is part of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the regional political party of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (Duterte’s daughter), also said libel should remain a crime in the country so journalists will not abuse their powers.
When asked if libel should be decriminalized, he said: “It should be a crime so that there is no abuse among us journalists.”
