PRESS RELEASE
25 April 2016
Netizens declare Duterte winner of third and final Presidential Debate
For the third time in a row, netizens favored presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte's performance in the PiliPinas Presidential Debate on Sunday (April 24), according to Rappler, a social media news organization.
Garnering an overwhelming 65.63% of the total votes, the tough-talking mayor won the first part of the debate. Administration standard bearer Manuel Roxas II and Senator Miriam Santiago were a far second with 12.5%, followed by Sen. Grace Poe with 8.13%, and Vice President Jejomar Binay with 1.25%.
The first part of the town hall debate featured representatives of different sectors, such as a fisherman, an OFW, and a Muslim. They directed questions at the five presidential candidates on issues covering the West Philippine Sea, overseas Filipino workers, and traffic in Metro Manila.
Rappler's respondents once again declared Duterte the winner of the second round of the debate, with 65.97% of the total votes. Roxas came in second with 17.12%. Santiago was at third with 11.27%, followed by Poe with 3.97% and Binay with 1.67%.
The second part of the debate featured a Fast Talk portion, where the moderators asked the candidates whether they agreed or disagreed with various issues, such as a Marcos burial in the heroes' cemetery, and house arrest for former President Gloria Arroyo.
"Duterte won the debate, not mortally wounded"
Meanwhile, political analysts weighing in on the upcoming presidential elections praised Duterte's performance in the third and final presidential debate.
Speaking before ABS-CBN’s “Huling Harapan,” Manila Bulletin’s Leandro Coronel stressed that, out of all the candidates who participated in the debate, Duterte proved to be the clear winner.
“Duterte was not mortally wounded contrary to what we expected because of the issues (that have been thrown against him). The clear winner (in the debate) was Duterte,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, in Rappler’s blow-by-blow coverage of the debate, De La Salle University assistant professor Richard Heydarian pointed out how the Davao Mayor was able to show his political will in trying to address Mindanao’s enduring problem on terrorism. #
