EDITORIALS & CARTOONS: Fire season

Remember that 2016 presidential debate when one candidate fiercely vowed to ride a jet ski to one of our islands being claimed by China, to plant the Philippine flag on it?

Years later, amid China’s escalating aggression on disputed territories, people demanded that the now-elected official redeem his election promise. To which he snorted: “’Yung bravado ko was just a pure campaign joke!” How “stupid” of listeners to believe it, he added during his weekly address in May 2021.

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Correcting fake news — which takes traction much more quickly than fact-driven information — may be a slow painful process now being done by several organizations. A more direct and efficient correction is to confront candidates benefitting from the falsehoods in a televised debate or interview, where prevarication would be fatal. Was martial law really a “golden age”? As a former police officer, were you ever involved in the arrest and torture of martial law dissidents? Have you fully paid the millions in taxes you owe the government from your winnings in boxing matches? Is your recent putdown of rival candidates a way to insinuate yourself into a Duterte endorsement? Are you just out for revenge against a political family?

Hearing the facts straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, would certainly do wonders in upholding the truth, while giving voters the informed choice they need to vote wisely.

Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/150517/tough-debates-for-tough-bets