A Formal Debate Between Prime Minister Rodrigo Duterte And Opposition Leader Noynoy Aquino

Here's a hypothetical scenario of what if we had Prime Minister Rodrigo R. Duterte and former prime minister turned Opposition Leader Noynoy Aquino in a head-on debate. While the president may serve as its unifying figure -- both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are set to be at competition and in toes against each other in the spirit of competition. A parliamentary could have put Noynoy as the Opposition Leader vs. Prime Minister Duterte in a more formal manner. 

The problem of the presidential system is that there's hardly any formal opposition and debate. This is not the case with a parliamentary -- the power is divided into three parts with the symbolic Head of State (President), the Head of Government (prime minister) and the Opposition for check and balance) which wouldn't give anyone absolute power plus there will be more room to correct any potential error in order to minimize error in the long run. Neither Prime Minister Duterte nor Opposition Leader Noynoy are completely right or wrong -- they both have some merits and demerits with what they said and do.

The current problem of the Philippine Opposition is the lack of formality between Majority and Minority Blocs. There's hardly any defined role with what happens with both areas of the Majority Bloc and the Opposition. But just think if the Philippine Opposition is formalized like the parliamentary. Let's say that they stopped opposing Duterte for the sake of opposing Duterte -- instead they oppose said leader for his mistakes and offer constructive solutions with Shadow Ministers from each side. Opposition Leader Noynoy himself wouldn't have to wait until the presses come to him or for him to set an appointment with the press to express his views in public -- he would actually be at a weekly debate with Prime Minister Duterte with several issues.

What issues do you think can be raised? Some of these issues can be how to (1) implement tax reform laws (such as excise taxes), (2) economic reforms such as easing excessive restrictions (which was done frequently from Fidel V. Ramos up to Noynoy Aquino) and dealing with inflation, (3) how to deal with the drug war, and (4) dealing with government office incompetence such as the Bureau of Customs. Both Prime Minister Duterte and Opposition Leader Noynoy would have to organize their staff. We could have Deputy Prime Minister Alan Cayetano and Deputy Opposition Leader Leni Loud Robredo under said debate. Both sides would have to point each others' mistakes out and come up with a feasible solution.

So how can this work at the end of the day? It would result to minimizing the impact of the whole Dutertard vs. Noytard false dichotomy. It's because both Prime Minister Duterte and Opposition Leader Noynoy would have to arrive at a common issue. It would result to both dispatch boxes having all their pros and cons weighed. The end result of the debate would be neither side must cancel each others' ideas just because of spite -- something that's so commonly done such as ignoring Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's flood control project or not doing anything productive with the Bataan Power Plant -- which could have been converted into something else aside from a nuclear power plant. Also, that would mean Prime Minister Duterte will have to accept Opposition Leader Noynoy's proposal to repeal certain excise tax laws while the latter will have to accept the fact that tax rates need to be lowered to a certain extent.