Did ABS-CBN leak questions to Mar?

This is based on a silly accusation – a written caption allegedly appeared before even Mar said it. The easy answer here is simple: Mar just repeated the words he had already said. Watch the replay if you like.

The best answer though to the insinuation that “Mar cheated, Mar was too prepared, Mar was given questions beforehand” are the MBC videos. Here he’s seen talking in front of a community of businessmen, barely glancing at his notes.

1. Here he talks about internet access.

2. Here he talks about institutionalized scholarships for all the valedictorians and top 10 students across the country. “Their poverty will not be a limit to the kind and quality of education they can get.”

3. Here he talks about energy – “dirty energy to clean energy” and how he plans to avail of the Paris concessions against rich polluting countries. This was basis for the coal question he received during the debate.

4. Here he talks about our justice system – how money is lost to delays.“For the poor, justice delayed, justice denied; they won’t have money to keep paying lawyers”. He talks about how the next President will appoint 10 Supreme Court justices which will determine the interpretation of laws.

5. Here he talks about transportation issues hounding the country.

6. Here he talks about his relationship with big business and how he’s fought people in the room – the people who’ve made it –  whether they were involved in pharmaceuticals, airlines, and insurance/pre-need industries. The objective? It was not personal. It was for the good of the country.

7. Here he talks about our countrymen – why our people deserve so much more than what they’re getting

This is Mar at his most natural. This is what happens when you’ve been in government, serving the country without a hint of corruption for the last two decades:

 

Does this still look scripted to you?

Update I:

The topics for the third presidential debate in Luzon (University of Pangasinan) on April 24 were published as early as January 2016. The topics listed in the GMA News article / COMELEC press release are as follows:

1. traffic and public transportation
2. electoral and political reforms
3. foreign policy
4. tax reform
5. national defense

Update II:

Raissa Robles makes her own assessment of the malicious video:

It was clear the post was meant to deceive, provoke and anger a lot of people. Because the first part of Roxas’ sentence was cut away, precisely to give that impression of cheating. You could see the editing was crudely done because the clip did not start at the beginning of the sentence.

It’s the same thing that the Roxas critics did to him in that edited voice clip of his altercation with Tacloban city Mayor Alfred Romualdez. They removed sections that would have explained his very controversial statement which mentioned the words “Romualdez” and “Aquino”.

Update III:

ABS-CBN has come out with its own statement entitled: HOAX: Was typist faster than Mar Roxas?

The spurious clip was still online as of posting, with candidates’ supporters, including those of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, asking the uploader to delete the “embarrassing” video.

“Duterte ako pero sinabi na ni Mar yung ‘Binangga ko ang mga malalaking interes’ a few seconds ago. Kaya naitype na para sa tv screens. Inulit lang nya ulit dun sa parte na yan. Wag magbaliko ng mga katotohanan. Mananalo tayo ng patas #DU30,” said one YouTube user.

“So you may know, I am a valid and solid Duterte supporter. Dear Maam, your video is edited, this must be a 30 seconds video. this his follow-up,” said another person who watched the spurious video.