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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Comelec won't penalize Atienza for skipping debate

Comelec won't penalize Atienza for skipping debate

Published Mar 20, 2022 06:54 pm

Vice presidential candidate Lito Atienza will still be able to use the e-rally platform of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec/MB

This despite his non-attendance in the Pilipinas Debates 2022 of the poll body at the Sofitel Tent in Pasay City on Sunday, March 20.

In an interview, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said they won't penalize Atienza since his non-attendance was due to medical reasons.

"He is exempted," he said.

Atienza earlier already formally declined the invitation of the poll body due to medical reasons.

Earlier this month, Jimenez said candidates who will skip the debates they organized will no longer be allowed to air their e-rallies in the e-rally platform of the poll body.

"We do have a e-rally that we do allow them to use the platform and one of the agreements is that if they skip the debates, then they will not be able to air their e-rallies on our e-rally platform," he said.

Jimenez said this will be until the end of the campaign period.

In the past, the Comelec already announced that only seven VP bets have confirmed their participation in the debates.

All the seven bets were present yesterday namely; Walden Bello, Rizalito David, Manny Lopez, Doc Wilie Ong, Kiko Pangilinan, Carlos Serapio and Vicente Tito Sotto.

The runningmate of presidential candidate and former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., Sara Duterte, was not present yesterday.

Meanwhile, Jimenez said they are looking for a way on how to more actively fact check the debaters.

"That's one of the areas that we are going to have to look at. How we can more actively fact check the debaters," he said.

Related Tags

comelec spokesperson james jimenez Sara Duterte Comelec lito atienza e-rally Commission on Elections
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