The camp of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte revealed the reasons why he did not have any ad placement during last Sunday’s first presidential debate which was aired live on GMA 7 citing lack of funds, to spend for TV ads. Mayor Duterte is the only candidates who has no ads shown during the first-ever presidential debates organized by the Comelec.
PDP-Laban confirmed through spokesperson Atty. Paola Alvarez that the party saw the series of presidential debates, as a platform to educate the Filipinos about the political agenda, style of governance, and the goals of Mayor Duterte.
The PDP-Laban spokesperson stated “We sought it proper not to air TV ads in order for the Filipinos to craft their on perception of the mayor based on their own observation, rather than our paid suggestions,” Alvarez said in a statement.
Aside from the political party backing up Mayor Duterte for his presidential bid, Peter Lavina, spokesperson of Duterte and chief of the Duterte Media Team, also admitted that the Duterte camp could not realy afford the pricey TV ads during the televised presidential debates held in Mindanao.
Despite the fact that Mayor Duterte did not place any ads during the Pilipinas Debates 2016, Mayor Duterte was the highly favored debater and candidate by netizens, generating the most buzz on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.
The political party PDP-Laban also said that they were happy with the “overwhelming feedback in favor of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after the debate.