I love politics (to those nitpicking: I love politics; not POLITICKING. Hmmkay, pumpkins? ); I hate gossip. Politics is cyclical, sure. It’s a soup of truths, lies and white lies; of course. It’s the necessary bit everyone hates going through in organizations; yes. Much like this other dubious thing most people love – gossip. But unlike gossip, politics is actually needed. It’s one of the ways people attempt to manage entropy and maintain order in organizations. Politics will even sometimes hold the fate of a community. It is that much fragile, that much essential, and that much complex.

Through the years, the Philippines experienced several troubles in its political history- colonialism, dictatorship, indebtedness. And it seems that the country is faced with another divisive- the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill). Top universities, respected institutions, influential personalities, and the media have thrown their opinions about the bill since it came out. Now, the two media moguls- ABSCBN and GMA- organized debate show specials of their own. The stations invited some of the pro and anti RH key players to express on national TV (and AM radio) why the nation should side with them.

Since I missed ABSCBN’s RH Debate Special, I made sure I didn’t miss the one from GMA. And for my very first review (of anything, published online), I will be delving on the debate technically and (to make this more blog-worthy and less nerdy, haha) personally. I wouldn’t really be rating it because, come on, who am I to rate. And I didn’t know to what standards to put it up with since I missed the other major media RH debate. I will just lay all my thoughts here. Here’s what happened then:

The Format (aka Method?): The debate housed two sides (pro and anti RH bill) and three moderators. There were three debaters and three interrogators for each side. The three speakers debated individually on different issues enclosed in the debate- the issue on health, morality, and women. After saying his/her speech, the debater will be interrogated by his/her direct opponent, the three interrogators of the opposing side, and an opposing audience member. The questions sent online were asked to whoever it were addressed to. The debate moved on like this for every ‘round’.