Press Release
April 15, 2016

Netizens weigh in on Alan-Marcos debate clash Round 1 goes to Cayetano

A video has recently circulated online showing the highlights of last Sunday's PiliPinas 2016 Vice Presidential Debate. It particularly focused on the heated exchanges between Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. regarding the latter's involvement in various corruption anomalies.

The video is an excerpt of CNN Philippines' live coverage of the debate. It was posted on Facebook last April 12 and now has over 500,000 views. It generated more than 17,000 reactions from netizens and was shared 8,000 times in the past two days.

The two-minute video showed the part where Cayetano took a swipe at Marcos for claiming that he and his family had never been involved in any corruption anomaly. "Nagulat po ako mga kababayan, sabi ni Senator Bongbong, wala daw bahid ng korapsyon ang kanilang pamilya. (Pero) $10 billion ang nanakaw noong panahon nila," Cayetano said. Marcos, in defense, stressed that the data that Cayetano presented had no clear basis.

Cayetano, however, fired back and said, "To be fair kay Senator Bongbong, 'yun din ang akala ko. Hindi totoong walang basehan ang numero. $4 billion na po ang na-recover ng PCGG. Sa SALN ni Senator Bongbong, P200-P500 million po, eh never ka naman nagtrabaho kung hindi sa gobyerno. Saan mo kukunin ang ganoon kalaking pera."

Cayetano also questioned Marcos' sincerity in fighting corruption in government, when he had never taken part in any Senate investigation involving corruption anomalies.

"Anong hearing sa corruption nakita niyo nag-appear ang isang Bongbong Marcos? Kahit anong isyu sa corruption, wala siya doon. Kami daw ang namumulitika kasi nilalabanan namin ang korap," the senator said.

In the comments section, netizens praised Cayetano for his boldness and fearlessness in expressing his points during the debate. Some even echoed his challenge to Marcos to return the wealth that their family allegedly stole if he fails to disprove allegations against them.

"Kapag mali ang sinabi ko dito, magwi-withdraw ako (in the VP race). Pero kapag ikaw ang mali, hindi lang mag-withdraw, isoli mo ang pera sa tao," Cayetano told Marcos.

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