Sunday’s Vice Presidential Debates had Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano emerging as the big winner according to some media organizations and politiclal observers.
Senator Cayetano stuck with a platform of government anchored on political will and a good grasp of the issues plaguing the country and even the measures and programs already put in place by government but are not implemented.
In sum, Senator Alan emerged as someone who knows what he is talking about and not someone mouthing motherhood statements.
Rappler cited Sen. Cayetano for being the most consistent in talking about his and presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte’s platforms, continually bringing up the tandem’s promise to eradicate crime in 3-6 months. Their message of political will and leadership was clear.
Cayetano was also engaging in
In heated exchanges with Marcos, Cayetano was able to cite specific figures on the Marcos ill-gotten wealth, countering Marcos’ arguments that these numbers were unsubstantiated. He positioned key moments in his political career as consistent reminders of what he says is his fight against corruption.
Significantly, when Marcos tried to hit what must be one of the glaring questions surrounding the Duterte-Cayetano campaign – by noting that Duterte previously said he would give Marcos the presidency should he fail to eradicate crime in the given time period – Cayetano was able to turn this around by saying Duterte said this in a “playful” way.
On graft and corruption
Here, candidates were asked about what they felt was the most appropriate penalty for graft and corruption. The question was originally intended for Cayetano.
Cayetano answered that was most important was “not the penalty, it’s the certainty that you will be caught, you will be punished.”The tension between Marcos and Cayetano continued as the former critized Cayetano’s statements that the way to get into power is by stealing. Cayetano clarified (with a jibe against Marcos) that he was being sarcastic.Cayetano hit Marcos’ attendance record when it comes to cases regarding corruption – which Marcos said was a move to avoid participating in endless politicking. Trillanes agreed with Cayetano with regard to the need to participate in corruption probes, particularly when it came to Binay.
