Poe urges rivals: No mudslinging

please, at last presidential debates

No name-calling and mudslinging, please, during the last leg of the debates, presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe appealed to her political rivals on Saturday.

For the third and final presidential PILIPINAS DEBATES to be held in Pangasinan on Sunday, Poe specifically asked her adversaries to refrain from making underhanded attacks against one another, to set a good example to Filipinos.

In an interview on local radio station in Bacolod City on Thursday, she said, “Pakiusap ko sa lahat ng kandidato, sana huwag namang magtawagan ng mga masasakit na pangalan dahil pagkatapos nito balik rin naman tayo sa pagiging kung sino tayo.”

“May responsibilidad kaming ayusin ang aming pananalita at ayusin ang aming pagkilos sapagkat bilang isang lider, hindi ka lang nagbibigay ng order, ikaw ay nagbibigay ng inspirasyon at halimbawa,” she added.

Barely two weeks before the May 9 elections, Poe said candidates should focus on communicating their stand on pressing national issues.

All five presidential contenders—Poe, administration standardbearer Mar Roxas II, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte—will face one another on stage for the Luzon leg of the presidential debates that will held at the Phinma-University in Dagupan City.

The townhall-type debate is sponsored by the Commission on Elections and hosted by ABS-CBN and the Manila Bulletin.

Poe had vowed she won't let women's rights be trampled on in the course of the debates.

"Sa debate na ito, hindi ako papayag na apihin rin ang mga kababaihan. Kailangan ay ipakita natin kung ano ang lakas ng isang babae, katulad rin ng mga lalaki."