Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas said candidates should have been give more time to explain and defend their positions during a debate, saying the allotted 15-minute per debater is not enough to cover the issues that have been presented to them.
“If you count the minutes tat each candidate – just for me – that each candidate had to speak, is roughly 15 minutes. How could he talk about the problems of 100 million people, or even just Mindanao, in 15 minutes,” said Roxas after the first presidential debate in Cagayan de Oro City.
“I wish that there was more time, I wish that there was deeper and broader discussion about these matters,” he added.
In general, each candidate is given 90 seconds to the present and defend his position on the issues being raised during the debate and another 60 seconds for rebuttal. Some candidates have to cut-short what they have to say when the warning about the time was alarmed.
Meanwhile, some netizens are also seeking the next hosts of the debates to either limit or do away with TV commercials and instead give the time for them to the candidates for more time to discuss their platform.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte first raised the issue, even threatening to walk out if he is not given enough time to explain his side days before the scheduled Sunday debate.
Roxas backed Duterte on limited time, saying presidency is too complicated and sensitive to be discussed in one minute.
“The presidency is not equivalent to a race. The presidency is about analyzing the problem and determining the best way to solve it,” said Roxas.
But overall, Roxas believes that he was able to deliver his message to the people.