WHY IS MARCOS JR. SCARED OF COMELEC DEBATE?

 

“The debate shall be organized in the spirit of civility and dialogue for the continuing education of the electorate. The debate shall be the venue where the presidential candidates can reach out to as many citizens at the same time and share the same forum to explain what they stand for and why they deserve to be elected president for the next six years.” (Excerpted from COMELEC Resolution No. 6661)

Six jumpstarting questions will get each presidential candidate worked up: three from the Debate Moderator (DM) and three from the Opposing Candidate (OC).

If I were one of the presidential candidates, how would I prepare for the debate? As a chess player, I would prepare for the debate like I would prepare for a national chess championship: to study, if not master, all the opening moves in chess books. A tall order. In the debate, I will study, if not master, the three aspects of the Philippine society: Economic, Political, and Social. A tall order, indeed.

GOOD LUCK

A long time ago, a friendly chess tournament was held between chess enthusiasts of National Steel Corporation (NSC) and National Power Corporation (NPC) in our city. A few days before the tournament, our NSC team captain Caloy told me to play white on the top board facing the best player of the other team. Uneasy, I asked Caloy (who played lots of games with the chess players in the city) about my opponent’s favorite opening with black pieces. He said: Alekhine defense. With too short a time to prepare for the tournament, I decided in taking a risk: I focused solely on Alekhine and brushed aside the rest of the countless opening moves my opponent might likely use. With a stack of chess books, I studied Alekhine intently. On the day of the tournament, when our top board game started, my opponent touched his black knight for his first move. Like a shot, it gave me a thrill. Caloy was right – my opponent played Alekhine. To cut this story short, I won. Here’s the amazing chaser: my opponent confided later to Caloy that his opponent (me) could read his mind during our match.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” (Seneca, Roman philosopher)

DEBATE PREPARATION

Just like my playing chess, it would be back-breaking to study the totality of Economic, Political, and Social aspects of the Philippine society so I could answer any question thrown at me during the debate. Instead, I would take a risk. My Debate Prep Team (DPT), would diligently generate the following sets of likely questions:

Round 1 – Economic

a) List of 5 likely questions. We would hope one of our likely questions would be related to, if not the same with, the DM banner question for the Economic round

b) List of 5 likely questions. We would hope one of our likely questions would be related to, if not the same with, the OC question raised in the interpellation.

For Round 2 – Political and Round 3 – Social, the same process of generating questions we would do for each round.

All in all, my DPT would generate a total of 30 likely questions from various sources: news and opinions from mainstream and social media, books, interviews, and press releases, especially by the OC for our counter-punching answers, among others.

It is worthy to note my options.  The more questions we would generate, say, even doubling to 10 likely questions for each round, the higher the probability of hitting the bull’s eye (DM or OC’s question) -- at a great price – my task would be harder. The fewer questions we would generate, say 1 likely question for each round, the lower the probability of hitting the bull’s eye -- at a small price -- my task would be easier.

At this stage of our preparation, my DPT and I would draw up the following COMELEC requirements:

Opening Statements (2 mins)

Round 1 – Economic

a) 5 sets of Constructive Speech for 5 likely DM’s banner questions (3 mins each)

b) 5 sets of Responses for 5 likely OC’s questions in interpellation (2 mins each)

For Round 2 – Political and Round 3 – Social, the same process of drawing up of Constructive Speech and Response we would do for each round.

Summation Statement (1 minute)

DEBATE PRACTICE. RULE OF THUMB. CAVEAT

For my debate preparation proper, my DPT would set up “mock debates” where we would devote considerable time in practice to polish up the delivery of each of my 15 sets of Constructive Speech and 15 sets of Responses with a worthy stand-in opponent in the COMELEC-prescribed format.

As a presidential candidate, I should know other vital ingredients that could make or break the debate. While I could lose a debate anytime, I should know this rule of thumb: I could only win it in the first 30 minutes. As one saying goes: “First impression is the last impression." I should know that I would be on the stage to debate my opponents, not the moderators nor the rules. I should know the four worst words to start an answer to a question: “Before I answer that…” I should know this caveat: “If in doubt, don’t open your mouth.”

We could make sense now of how grueling it would be to earnestly prepare for and skillfully engage in the actual COMELEC debate. Until the debate kicks off, no presidential candidate could ever contemplate the possibility of either he or she would be coming off with flying colors or falling flat on his or her face at the end of the debate.

At this point, we may already have figured out that the COMELEC debate is not for the lazy, the incompetent, and the coward. If you find the whole process of debate preparation above as mind-boggling and back-breaking, it is because the COMELEC debate is mind-boggling and backbreaking. It ought to be that way – like a refiner’s fire – heating the metal to a molten state, then skimming off the dross, and ultimately purifying the metal like gold. Let’s not forget: we would be electing the leader of our nation of more than 100 million Filipinos.

Back to the banner question: Why is Marcos Jr. scared of the COMELEC debate? The answer is a no-brainer lodged in the question itself: Marcos Jr. is scared. Period.

(A handful of nuts and bolts of debate embedded in this article was adapted from “Debate Prep Memo” by Ron Klain who worked as Director of Debate Preparation for Kerry-Edwards Campaign in the 2004 US election.)