The Part 2 of the debate program has officially started at 3:32pm.

It was the “exciting

part” that everyone was waiting for. From all the issues that had been spread or rumored, this
was the time that those issues are going to be addressed and answered by the individuals who
were either the one who spread it or the one receiving these baseless or factual rumors and
accusations. This was the part that everyone had looked forward to. It was called the
“hotseat” or so I heard. The rules were simple, each participant are to given two minutes to
question the opposing participant or the one who are in the “hotseat”. The hotseat is a term
used to describe those who are in question. It is somewhat termed like that as they were going
to be trialled or questioned briefly from their qualifications, backgrounds, credibility,
integrity, and past achivements from their respective organizations. After the question has
been thrown out, the participants who are in the hotseat are to answer these questions as
convincingly as they can or as transparent and honest. A follow-up question will be asked
after the answer to further solidify their claim or to really get them to confess something or to
just throw them off at their game. This is politics after all. Each participant will either
question the President or Vice President from the opposing team. I believe there were draw
lots to determine who would question who first and it seems that the United Students’
Partylist had won this as they were the ones who asked the questions first. The loser of the
draw lots, The Buklod Partylist were chosen to be in the hotseat first. This would not
supposedly be a warfare between these two political parties as both Yazid I. Ishmael, the
United Students’ Partylist’s Running President and Jerome Rabara, the BUKLOD Partylist’s
Running President are both Muslims in which they identify themselves as brothers in the
religion of Islam. EJ Magcamit, the BUKLOD Parylist’s Running Vice President and
Alprince King A. Biri, the United Students’ Partylist’s Running Vice President are good
friends also. Both Alprince King and EJ are close friends in which they have known issues
about themselves that could actually be confidential. The friendship might be shaded because
of politics in which is not good for their relationship as close friends. We have also witnessed
Alprince King giving and serving water for EJ during the debate in which shows closeness of
both the Vice Presidents. They showed genuine smile to each other in which might only be
seen during their private times as in the campus, in the room, and especially during the debate
session that was held early today in the afternoon, they are rivals with different beliefs and
visions in helping the University and especially the students to which they will serve for a
year.
As both the participants are ready and the rules and guidelines were read, everything
was now set and the anticipation of the crowd grew wider as they would love to hear the
banters from each side. The United Student’s Partylist’s Running President, Yazid Ishmael
started with the question to The BUKLOD’s Running President Jerome Rabara if he was
employed to the university. Aspiring President Jerome Rabara then aswered the question
saying that he is not employed and is a student of the College of Law. He said that he saw the
struggles of the student as to why he stepped down and became a student instead of an
employee. As we all know, being a student of the College of Law and an employee of the
university is normal and accepted. We have professors such as Sir Alieddiene Habbi who are
enrolled in the College of Law but is also teaching subjects to the students, particularly for
Sir Habbi as he is a Certified Public Accountant; He teaches accounting and law subjects to
undergraduates of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy in the College of Liberal Arts.
However, this was not the case for Jerome Rabara as he said that he stepped down and
became a student because he saw the needs of the student that were not addressed by the
previous administration. Which were really nonlogical or is not really trivial of some sort as it
is shady in a way. But the thing about being a candidate or having a position in the University
Student’s Council is that you cannot be employed in the University in order for you to have a
chance at running for President or in any position. Is what he desire is to have a seat in the
University Student’s Council or in the Board of Regents or just plain power of governance
over the students? To which the answer is unknown for everyone who attended and witnessed
in the debate that had recently concluded. The follow-up question is rather shaky in a way
that it lack substance and common sense. The question was, “Student Center. Since hindi ka
employed, then why are you in the Student Center?”. The building was called “Student
Center”. If I were to be questioned by this question I would really laugh at the United
Student’s Partylist’s Running President’s face and wipe the smirk that has been bothering
everyone. This question is somewhat irrelevant but the opposing participant answered the
question and said that he is also a student so that’s why he is in the “Student Center” or he
could use the student center. It didn’t really gave me interest to listen to the answer as it was
pretty obvious. However, the preceding second follow-up question had a little substance
because the question is grounded on the fact that the Student Center was occupied by one of
the university officials or faculty officials. So The United Student’s Partylist aspiring
President Yazid Ishmael asked the opposing participant if how they would retrieve the said
center. The opposing participant, BUKLOD’S Aspiring President gave a logical and factual
answer. He said that the faculty official that had been occupying the Student Center didn’t
have an office or a room to where he could work on so the said Official asked to borrow the
Student Center. The last question of aspiring president and USP running president Yazid
Ishmael was that why was the Student Center being made a political war room by the
BUKLOD partylist wherein the other political parties cannot enter the premises of the said
student center. Aspiring president and BUKLOD running president Jerome Rabara answered
the obvious that the student center was open for all, however, it did not really answer the
question. One of the obvious reasons also as to why the student center is not welcoming
anymore is because it is occupied by the BUKLOD partylist, as stated by USP aspiring
president Yazid Ishmael that it was made a political war room, also because there are
campaign materials found in the said student center.
After the exchange of both aspiring presidents it was now time for the vice presidents
to have an exchange also. USP aspiring vice president opened the round by stating that his
questions are to test the credentials and credibility of the opposing participant to be an
eligible vice president. He then asked the accomplishments that the opposing participant
made in the during his twenty twenty (2020) and twenty twenty-one (2021) term. The
BUKLOD aspiring vice president then answered this stating that during his term, it was the
height of the pandemic wherein access to the school were limited. He also explained that
during the time of his term, or should he call it, “pandemic term or online term” as all
activities were held online due to limited access to the school and we were clearly having a
pandemic. He helped making the captions of the posts that are either announcing the event or
proclaiming winners during the event. A follow-up question then was asked if these
accomplishments are enough and is proof enough that he was ready to become a vice
president. He then answered the same statements as he said from the initial question further
burning his bridge towards other people due to lack of substance and information that he had
initially given to answer the first question. The volume of his voice however made their
supporters shout and cheer for them as to expend what is little left to them being rational and
just plainly supporting their candidate who has no solid answer. The USP aspiring vice
president however found a clever question from the previous answer of the opposing
participant asking if making captions are essential. This is when the BUKLOD aspiring vice
president lost me as he had only said that it is essential because it has to be inviting and
engaging to the students and audience reading it. He could’ve actually said that he had
participated in the planning of the event and stated an actual committee that is essential to the
events that they were hosting. After all the nonsense cheering and cringe volume of the
BUKLOD aspiring vice president, the USP aspiring vice president then asked his final
question. The question was why was there no accomplishment report presented. This is were
he came strong and said in rebuttal that there was no ink to the printer in the USC office. In
which he argued that the ink was depleted due to the personal use of someone from the USP
Partylist for their undergraduate thesis. He further explained that although the printer was for
public use, it should have been replaced so that other students can use the printer for other
purposes, as for him, printing the accomplishment report. The USP aspiring vice president
then asked a follow-up question if what they have done to after they discovered that there was
no ink, to which they responded that they didn’t do anything so that the anomaly would be
discovered and was soon used as their political weapon against the opposing partylist to
which is the USP.