Wow I just finished watching Jessica Soho's Presidential Interviews and it's quite full of information. 😅 It's more than two hours and my brain can't really process all that information completely. I had to take a break from watching sometimes. Someone needs to break it down and separate what each person said. 😆

Of course it's not too much to break that all down. I would rather share the things I learned and realized about each of the candidates though.

We only have four people in the presidential interviews. They are the top candidates based on surveys. It is without one invited person that a lot of people expected to be there because he declined to joined. Tsk tsk.

Such a waste really that he didn't join. I think he's either a killjoy or not a sport at all. It would seem like he is pikon but meh, let's just focus on the people who went to the public interview.

Jessica Soho is one of the Philippines' pride when it comes to investigative reports and more. She is an acclaimed journalist who was accused of being biased by the camp of Bongbong Marcos (BBM). This is the reason why he decided not to join the presidential debates.

Well all I can say is he wasted a big opportunity to show what kind of president he will be to the Filipino people. Oh wait, perhaps that is what he wants to show us. This early on he has the signs of being an absentee president and even someone hard to communicate with. Big no-no for me.

Everyone else has had plenty of interviews in the past, why then did the other four still decide to show up to be grilled or roasted by a renowned and respected broadcast journalist during this time? Everyone has a right to know more about them as presidential candidates now and not just in the past so people can really decide who to vote for.

We are not blind or will just vote for someone because we like them. Nope that is not how to vote wisely. We the public would like to know what they have to say now about topics and controversies they were involved in over the years.

Just like an employee applying for a job, the Filipino people needs to know why we should vote someone as president. As candidates they should attend all media interviews and not pick and choose who to be interviewed by. If they only accept interviews from those supposedly not against them that somehow shows their own bias for themselves. But of course it is also his right if he would rather not talk to anyone he doesn't want to.

Clearly a lot of people were glued to theirs TVs and computers to watch the interview last night. I was watching something else though. Forgot to tune in. Haha. So today I decided to watch it and see what the four had to say and I really enjoyed watching it. Didn't think the interview format would be quite fun. It was like a reality TV game show and a Miss Universe pageant Q & A portion all rolled into one! 👏👏👏😆

Yes it could have been so much better if BBM was there but hey, it was his choice not to join the fun. His absence was really such a disappointment.

A lot of people called him a coward because of what he did. It became the top trending topic on Twitter. His father must be rolling in his "stolen" grave if he learned about it. #MarcosDuwag (coward) was trending for hours.

Anyway the four top presidential candidates that attended are the following:

• Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, Sr.

• Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso

• Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo

• Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao, Sr.

You can Google each of them to know more. What I will comment on is about what I heard and watched from Jessica Soho's interview plus what I know about their lives/work. This is after watching the entire video once.

I cannot digest and memorize everything from it, you know. It has too much information to process but it can be done if one really watches it again and take notes. Hehe. For now I will just give my thoughts on what I watched.

What I Noticed/Realized While Watching It

I couldn't help but remember both Manny and Isko came from a really poor background but rose to fame and fortune. The former is known worldwide for being a boxing champ and is richer because of his $$$ earnings while the latter is locally known for starting as an actor/celebrity before going into politics and public service.

They both have a good rags to riches story that everyone can be inspired to read/hear/know. Being dirt poor doesn't mean you will die poor too. They are the perfect examples of success stories in a third world country.

I am also very happy that they did not do the interviews in English. Duh, this is for the Filipino people so very good Jessica Soho and GMA News! 👍👍👍 This is how it should be. Yes we can speak English but come on, let's stop or greatly reduce the colonial mentality already.

What Did I Learn About Them in this Interview?

Ping Lacson: Against People Who Do The Wrong Things

Very much a policeman. You can really see in the way he speaks how much of a law enforcer he is. He was able to answer the hard questions well and with conviction. Did not skirt any issues. Comes off as someone who knows about following/doing things within the law and creating order in the country.

Surprisingly he prefers data-driven and science-backed things. Wow. Good to know. 👍

Isko Moreno: Man of Action

Very direct or to the point and has step by step plans of action. Eager to respond too. He is also said to admire the late dictator (father of BBM) but says he only copies the good from other leaders (like Duterte, Lee Kwan Yew, etc.) and knows not to do the bad. Definitely learned our history but does not want to focus much on the past.

He did say he will have those corrupt government officials jailed and such if he becomes president.

Manny Pacquiao: Idealistic and Very Much a Christian

Wow I heard the magic words! He said the environment is very important and basically must be cared for. Impressive! ❤ I did not hear any of that from the other candidates. (It is a very important topic that people should not forget. Our life and technology are nothing without natural resources, remember that.)

Sometimes though he wouldn't answer all of the questions. He tends to forget answering parts of the question, maybe he was slightly skirting the issue or doesn't know much about the topic. 🤔

Leni Robredo: Has Done A Lot

Answers with conviction. Always has proof or evidence on what she has done and can do despite being the only woman running as president.

Who Will I Be Voting For?

Definitely not BBM. I would have liked to give him a chance despite the bad things his family did to the country but the way he's acting shows a lot of red flags already. This is not the only instance he has come under fire for his behavior.

I believe the reason he didn't want to join the interview was because of a previous one a decade or so ago where he was sputtering and trying to answer a hard question Ms. Soho asked. Maybe he didn't want a repeat performance but if it was me I would have gone back to show the world I am much better now than before. Anyway he has his reasons: he thinks she is biased against him.

Because of this hot topic I also watched older news/journalist interviews of BBM online. You can read what I have to say about how BBM answers (based on the few I watched on YouTube) via noise.cash.

As for who I will vote for... I am still not sure. I can always vote for Leni. Very easy choice but there are many factors to consider when voting for a president. Last election, I voted for Miriam Santiago as president and Leni for VP without a doubt. This time I am still not sure who to vote for. 😆

Based on actions and work done both Leni and Isko are great. The two have a proven admirable track record in public service and what they have done while in office: Leni as Vice President and Isko as Manila City mayor. I don't have much to say about Ping though he speaks well in the interview. He's not too flashy and doesn't broadcast much of what he does. As for Manny, uh... I need to have more reasons to vote for him.

My concern for Leni is people might not vote for her if they think women are not worth being the head of a nation. We are more of a patriarchal country so that can go against her even if she has done a lot for the Philippines.

The problem with Isko is, he thinks he can scale what he did in Manila to the entire country. Look at Pres. Duterte though. He is said to have been a great Davao mayor too but I don't think he was able to apply that to the country as a president. (I've never even heard of him before he ran for that position! 😂) Yes of course our current president has also done some good, no doubt about it, but overall his presidency seems messy. 🤔

Being the leader of an entire nation is not easy. Whoever thinks being a president is a walk in the park does not know what real leadership is. If you've never lead and handled a group of people, whether in school or at work then you'll never understand how hard it is to be the head of any organization. Imagine being the leader of millions of people. Oh wow. I would never want to be in any president's shoes.

The four presidentiables have their own strengths, flaws and weaknesses but we must choose based on what they have done and not just what they are saying. It is easy to say things, doing things is a different matter. Words can be taken back but actions are final. Once you've done it, you've really done it. Words are nothing without action.

This means I still need to do online research on the controversial things they have done aside from the achievements and actions they did/are doing while in office. It's important to take the time to do some research aside from us just earning a living. Whoever will win will hold our country in their hands so we should have concrete evidence they can be good leaders. We will all be affected by our actions so let us be responsible enough to know the things they have done in the past. Make sure we check with credible sources (news articles, interviews with newscasters and journalists, etc.) and not just someone who made a comment about it.

Anyway have you watched the interview yet? The YouTube video is so bitin. It didn't really end properly imho. Upon checking the one on Facebook that one ended the video well. Anyway if you haven't seen it yet then you can watch it on YouTube, Facebook and even Twitter! Awesome right? Ah I just love the internet. Good thing GMA also released shorter videos of each candidate so we can watch them in a shorter time.

Now I want to see some interviews of the candidates for Senator. That would be interesting too don't you think? 😊

XOXO,

@LucyStephanie

P. S. I am also watching Leodegario "Ka Leody" De Guzman's answers to some of the questions in the interview. He is one of the presidential candidates that seems to be ignored by the media for some reason. Sad even he is not invited to be interviewed by Boy Abunda. Tsk tsk.

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None of the above images are mine.

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