The four other presidential debates spared Mayor Duterte during the highly anticipated presidential debates held in Pangasinan which was shown on national TV through ABS-CBN. Despite the controversial issue against the Davao City mayor, none of the other presidential aspirants pressed him to answer.
During the third and last presidential debates the five candidates refused to engage in a heated confrontation although there were some exciting exchange of words between Mayor Duterte and former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas.
All the five presidential hopefuls namely Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas were unscathed after the debates held at the University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.
Some of the issues tackled by the five presidential hopefuls includes the country’s territorial dispute with China, Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic and jobs involving the controversial “endo” which became a major topics during this year’s election after Mayor Duterte promised to end the practice once elected as President of the Republic.
The “endo” topics became a major issue in this year’s election but according to some netizens, they wondered why is it that the issue became sensationalized by the four other presidential candidates, because they have been working in the Senate and even as Vice President but they have done nothing with the said issue. Among the five presidential candidates only Mayor Duterte don’t have a national post as Vice President or member of the Senate.
Survey front-runner Mayor Rody Duterte was spared thrashing over his controversial joke despite the fact that all the presidential candidates attacked him on various interviews with national media but during the face-to-face debates, no one dared to ask him about the issue.
Sen. Grace Poe tried to engage Mayor Duterte on her plans with the women under his administration but the mayor responded gently by enumerating the accomplishments of Davao City for women under his administration as Mayor of the city.
