In the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) initial discussion with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), Commissioner George Erwin Garcia said that that the "taped as live" approach will be adopted for its interview set for the vice presidential and presidential candidates.
This was after the concluding event of the PiliPinas Debates 2022 shifted to a single candidate/team - panel interview format.
"Sa pakikipag-usap natin nung Linggo ng gabi sa KBP yun ang talaga ang usapan. Na talaga naman dapat as if andun ka mismo (During our talk with KBP on Sunday night, that was the agreement. It's as if you're there)," Garcia said.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that initial communication with the candidates through their campaign teams has been good but they are still waiting for the rules and guidelines of the interview. Garcia added that by afternoon, they will be able to come up with guidelines and rules and that they will make it available to all of the candidates.
"Hopefully by tomorrow sa en banc mapapaapprove na natin yung Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) ng Comelec at KBP na nagpapahayag na walang babayaran ang Comelec, libre ang lahat, walang gagastusin ang comelec sa initiative na 'to ng KBP (Hopefully by tomorrow the en banc approves the MOA between Comelec and KPB stating that the poll body will not pay anything, and everything will be free in this initiative of KBP)," he said.
Meanwhile, the panel who will be interviewing the candidates is set for the approval of the Comelec en banc. The names as well as the questions according to Garcia, will be sent to the Commission en banc for approval also. He said that it's better if there is a free flow of questioning rather than it looking scripted with panelists reading questions. It's better that the questions will come from the panel members themselves which will come from different news organizations.
Garcia apologized to the candidates anew for the situation "Importante pinagpipilitan ng Comelec sa pakikipagtulungan ng KBP na maitawid natin, matapos man lang itong at kahit man lang yung last hurrah na tinatawag ay makausap ng mga kababayan ang kanilang kandidato sa pamamagitan ng bagong format na ito (What's important is that the Comelec is doing its best in cooperation with the KBP to push through with this so-called 'last hurrah' that will enable our voters to communicate with the candidates through this new format)," he said.
Garcia also defended the recent setback, saying that organizing a debate is different from organizing an election and so far from the conduct of the overseas absentee voting (OAV), it has been good.