By Mario Casayuran

With less than six months before the mid-term May 2019 elections, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III has filed a bill, calling for mandatory electoral debates to give aspiring candidates a chance to share their platforms of government.

Ironically, the Senate and the House of Representatives only have two weeks left or six session days to undertake committee hearings and have a consolidated bill passed before they go on months-long election break starting February 8.

Senate Bill 2147, introduced by Pimentel, seeks to institutionalize the holding of electoral debates by amending Section 7.3 of Republic Act 9006, also known as the “Fair Election Act,” which states that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may require national television and radio networks to sponsor at least three national debates among presidential candidates and at least one national debate among vice presidential candidates.

Under current political conditions, the rich candidates or those with financial support have an edge over their cash-strapped rivals.

A few TV advertisements alone will financially debilitate a poor candidate.

Through the years, Congress has failed to even the playing field when it did not act on bills seeking to ban persons seeking elective posts if they get media mileage by being columnists, TV and/or radio hosts within a reasonable time before elections.

“While the Fair Election Act included a provision on the holding of electoral debates, the same was merely permissive. This bill seeks to institutionalize the holding of electoral debates by amending the Fair Election Act to make this important activity mandatory,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said Comelec’s supervision of at least three national debates among presidential candidates and at least one national debate among vice-presidential candidates, should be scheduled on three different days within the campaign period.

Each debate, Pimentel said, shall include a discussion of the candidate’s program of government and their stand on the most pressing issues affecting their respective constituencies.

“Among the declaration of principles in the Fair Election Act is for the State to guarantee or ensure equal opportunity for public service, pursuant to the Constitution. One way to do this is to allow the candidates to engage each other in a debate where they will be asked to discuss their respective programs of government as well as their stand on the most pressing issues affecting their constituents,” he added.

The bill also disallows television and radio networks broadcasting the debate from selling airtime for commercials and advertisements to interested advertisers and sponsors during the debate,’’ he explained.