The issue transpired after Marcos, Jr. declined to participate in Soho’s Presidential Interviews special.
On Saturday, January 22, the Kapuso network will air a TV special featuring veteran journalist Jessica Soho and the front-running Presidentiables of the 2022 elections based on the latest surveys. Yesternight, in a snippet shown on GMA’s flagship primetime newscast ’24 Oras,’ it was confirmed that only four candidates participated in the program.
They were Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Manny Pacquiao, Senator Ping Lacson, and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. Lacson, who was in isolation a few weeks ago, joined in via teleconferencing. Meanwhile, the other three were present inside a studio.
During that segment, Jessica Soho confirmed that the current leader in surveys, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, did not commit and won’t be part of the special. At that time, neither of both parties disclosed the reason as to why.
With this announcement, several netizens took to social media to express their dismay over what they regard as an “act of cowardice” by Marcos. This prompted the spread of the hashtag ‘MarcosDuwag,’ which has gained over 300,000 tweets, as of publishing time.
Thus, earlier this morning, in an attempt to quash the growing sentiment of the crowd, the camp of Marcos, Jr. issued a strong statement.
According to them, Bongbong’s absence was due to a “belief that the hostess of the show [Jessica Soho] was biased against the Marcos.” Moreover, that “the questions will just focus on the negativity about BBM, which the UniTeam dislike[s].” Instead of that, they wish to talk about “how candidates will solve lingering problems due to COVID-19.”
Furthermore, they said that “Bongbong Marcos’ duty is to the Filipino people and not to a particular TV show or program host.”
(You may read the full text below)
GMA Network, Jessica Soho’s parent company, did not take the statement sitting down.
In a similarly strong-worded statement, the network defended Soho from the remarks made by BBM’s camp.
“GMA Network takes exception to the statement of the camp of… Bongbong Marcos that… Jessica Soho is supposedly biased against the Marcoses,” the statement’s opening sentence read.
“Throughout her career, Ms. Soho has consistently been named the most trusted news personality in the Philippines, by both foreign and local organizations,” the network pronounced.
A few paragraphs further, the network explained how the special program is formatted, with “Ms. Soho boldly ask[ing] the Presidential aspirants the questions that needed to be asked.” Those questions include “their intentions behind running for the position, the cotroversies thrown at them, their stand on pressing issues, and concrete plans once should they be elected.”
To this, the network said “[t]he questions are tough because the job of the Presidency is tough.”
(You may read the full text below)
The response of the other camp on this statement made by GMA is yet to be known.
However, they have confirmed that Bongbong would be appearing on sit-down one-on-one interview with Boy Abunda. This program will be part of Abunda’s series of interviews with all 5 leading Presidential candidates, which will be aired over the course of the following week on Abunda’s YouTube channel every 6:00pm and ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Channel at 11:00pm.
Meanwhile, GMA News and Public Affairs special ‘The Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews’ will the other leading four candidates as planned tonight, January 22, 2022, at 6:15pm across GMA platforms.