PiliPinas Debates 2016

PiliPinas Debates 2016 is a debate series administered by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) with the assistance of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas in preparation for the May 9, 2016 general election. In January 2016, the Commission on Elections confirmed that they would hold three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. This will be the first time that the COMELEC will host debates since the 1992 elections, with ABC-5 as the host network fresh from the launch of the recently restored broadcast network on February 21 of the same year, after a 20-year rest due to Martial Law.[1] The debates were branded as PiliPinas Debates 2016.[2] The first word is a portmanteau of Pili, Filipino for "choose" and Pinas, shortcut for the Philippines in Filipino.

PiliPinas Debates 2016
Title card used during the first and last leg of the debates
Created byCOMELEC
KBP
Developed byVarious
Presented byVaries per leg
Opening themePili Pinas
by Gravity
Ending themePili Pinas
by Gravity
Country of originPhilippines
No. of episodes4 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerVarious
Production location4 locations
Running time124 minutes
Release
Original networkGMA Network
(Mindanao leg)
TV5
(Visayas leg)
ABS-CBN
(Luzon leg)
CNN Philippines
(Vice President leg)
Original releaseFebruary 21 (2016-02-21) –
April 24, 2016 (2016-04-24)

Broadcast and coverage

The first leg of the debate was conducted on Mindanao and was held on February 21 at the Mini-Theater Building of the Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro. It aired on GMA Network and was simulcast on Super Radyo DZBB, RGMA stations and KBP-affiliated member radio stations nationwide (GMA was a KBP member from April 1973 until the said network withdrew from its membership in September 2003) and its livestream channels. The Mindanao leg was moderated by Mike Enriquez and Jessica Soho of GMA Network and John Nery of Philippine Daily Inquirer.[3]

The second leg was conducted in Visayas and was held at the Performing Arts Hall of the University of the Philippines Cebu on March 20, 2016.[4] It was aired simultaneously over TV5, AksyonTV, Bloomberg TV Philippines, Radyo5 92.3 News FM and KBP-affiliated member radio stations nationwide with live streaming broadcast also made available via news5.com.ph, bilangpilipino.com and YouTube. It was moderated by News5 chief Luchi Cruz-Valdez.

CNN Philippines hosted the Vice Presidential Debate on April 10, 2016. It was moderated by Pia Hontiveros and Pinky Webb.

The third and last leg of debates was held on April 24 at the Student Plaza, University of Pangasinan in Dagupan.[5] It aired simultaneously in SD and HD over ABS-CBN, ABS-CBN News Channel and SD over ABS-CBN Sports and Action, DZMM Radyo Patrol 630/TeleRadyo, ABS-CBN Regional stations, The Filipino Channel (for international viewers) and KBP-affiliated member radio stations nationwide. Live streaming was also made available via news.abs-cbn.com, tfc.tv (for international viewers), mb.com.ph, iWant TV, Sky On Demand (for SkyCable and Destiny Cable postpaid subscribers) and ABS-CBN News official YouTube channel. The Luzon leg was moderated by veteran anchors, Karen Davila and Tony Velasquez.

Host cities of the debates
Office Date Media partners Location
TV Network Newspaper Leg Host City University
President February 21, 2016 GMA Network Philippine Daily Inquirer Mindanao
(details)		 Cagayan de Oro Capitol University
March 20, 2016 TV5 Philippine Star
BusinessWorld		 Visayas
(details)		 Cebu City University of the Philippines Cebu[6]
April 24, 2016 ABS-CBN Manila Bulletin Luzon
(details)		 Dagupan University of Pangasinan
Vice President April 10, 2016 CNN Philippines Business Mirror Metro Manila
(details)		 Manila University of Santo Tomas

Ratings

The table below shows the recorded ratings of the debates according to market research firms, Kantar Media and AGB Nielsen for Nationwide and Mega Manila TV ratings consecutively.

Date Leg TV network Moderator/(s) Nationwide[7][8][9] Mega Manila[10][11][12]
February 21, 2016 Mindanao GMA Network Mike Enriquez, Jessica Soho, and John Nery 23.8% 25.3%
March 20, 2016 Visayas TV5 Luchi Cruz-Valdez 8.5% 11.2%
April 24, 2016 Luzon ABS-CBN Karen Davila and Tony Velasquez 40.6% 27.9%

Summary
Legend
 P  Participated  A  Absent
Presidential debates
Location Jejomar Binay Miriam
Defensor Santiago		 Rodrigo
Duterte		 Grace Poe Mar Roxas
Leg Host city
Mindanao
(details)		 Cagayan de Oro P P P P P
Visayas
(details)		 Cebu City P A[lower-alpha 1] P P P
Luzon
(details)		 Dagupan P P P P P
Vice Presidential debate
Location Alan
Cayetano		 Chiz
Escudero		 Gregorio
Honasan		 Bongbong
Marcos		 Leni
Robredo		 Antonio
Trillanes
Leg Host city
Metro Manila
(details)		 Manila P P P P P P

Criticisms

Debate proper

The conduct of the debate was subjected to several criticisms. In the first leg of the debates, GMA Network was criticized for the number of commercials played with reports showing that 35.6% (48 out of 135 minutes) were dedicated to commercials.[14] Meanwhile, the second leg of the debate was criticized for the lack of professionalism with candidates resorting to bickering and petty fights instead of analyzing relevant issues in the country.[15] Finally, the third led, hosted by ABS-CBN was criticized for the amount of political ads played during this leg.[14]

Availability on online media platforms

On February 19, 2016, Rappler sued COMELEC chairman Andres Bautista for “granting exclusive broadcasting and livestreaming rights to handpicked media partners" before the Supreme Court, not allowing online media to live stream the events. Rappler asked the high court to intervene to allow the debates to be streamed by more than one outlet.[16]

The social service claimed that the memorandum of understanding excluded online media from covering and streaming the debate; Bautista countered, stating that Rappler was being unprofessional and that they should have read the contract they signed. Rappler countered by saying it had raised the issues with Bautista and signed the agreement, believing in good faith that COMELEC would resolve the issues. Rappler's lawyer, JJ Disini, said the process for selecting media outlets could have been more transparent; he also expressed concern that the state-owned PTV-4 network was excluded from the agreement.[16]

See also

Note
  1. Santiago was absent in the second debate due to cancer treatment.[13]

References
  1. Esmaquel II, Paterno (2015-10-15). "Presidential debates: 'Ayaw natin ng duwag' – Comelec". Rappler. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  2. "6 presidential bets confirm attendance to Comelec debates". The Philippine Star. January 21, 2016. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  3. Legaspi, Amita (21 February 2016). "Five presidential hopefuls face off in historic PiliPinas Debates 2016". GMA News. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  4. Baquero, Elias; Cuizon, Razel (23 February 2016). "Presidential debate, next leg in Cebu". Sun Star Cebu. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  5. Dimalanta, Ces (March 28, 2016). "Last leg of presidential debate to avoid pitfalls, flaws of previous face-offs". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  6. Sibi, Juli Ann (February 22, 2016). "UP Cebu to host presidential debate". Cebu Daily News. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  7. "National TV Ratings (February 19-21, 2016)". ABS-CBN Social Media Newsroom. February 22, 2016.
  8. "National TV Ratings (March 17-20, 2016)". ABS-CBN Social Media Newsroom. March 21, 2016.
  9. "National TV Ratings (April 22-24, 2016)". ABS-CBN Social Media Newsroom. April 25, 2016.
  10. "AGB Nielsen: Mega Manila TV Ratings – February 19-21, 2016 "PiliPinas Debates 2016" tops Sunday daytime; "24 Oras" takes primetime top spot". LionHearTV. February 25, 2016.
  11. "AGB Nielsen: Mega Manila TV Ratings – March 18 – March 20, 2016 "Lip Sync Battle Philippines" remains the most-watched Saturday program; TV5's "PiliPinas Debates 2016" fails to beat "24 Oras"". LionHearTV. March 24, 2016.
  12. "AGB Nielsen: Mega Manila TV Ratings – April 21 – 24, 2016 "Pepito Manaloto" bumps off "Lip Sync Battle Philippines" to get the top spot on Saturday; ABS-CBN's "PiliPinas Debate 2016" most viewed program on Sunday". LionHearTV. March 24, 2016.
  13. "Miriam Santiago pulls out of second leg of presidential debates". GMA News. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  14. Bueza, Michael (25 April 2016). "More political ads in 3rd presidential debate of ABS-CBN". Rappler. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  15. David, Clarissa (23 March 2016). "Who won the Cebu presidential debate?". Rappler. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  16. "Comelec calls Rappler 'unprofessional' for filing charges over MOA on election debates". CNN Philippines. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
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