Noynoy tired of waiting for Villar for one-on-one debate

(Updated 12:40 p.m.) DAGUPAN CITY — After getting no response, a tired Senator Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III may soon drop plans for a one-on-one debate with his closest rival for the presidency, Senator Manuel Villar Jr. Aquino told reporters here Tuesday night his emissary followed up the matter with Villar’s camp but received no response. He said Villar’s camp has so far been silent on the mechanics of their one-on-one debate. "At some point in time kung ayaw niya, di ko na pag-aksayahan ng oras na hintayin siya sumagot. Mas mabuti kausapin ko ang aking supporters at maghanda para sa vote protection (At some point in time, I will no longer waste my time waiting for his reply. I would rather talk to my supporters to prepare to protect my votes this May)," he said. Aquino said his camp already sent to Villar’s camp several proposals including the format, date and venue of the supposed debate, but they received no response. "Sa ngayon klaro sa akin pinadala ko ang spokesperson namin ang emissary si Edwin Lacierda at twice ko tinanong I think in succeeding weeks ang feedback sa akin, walang response (To me it is clear, I sent our spokesman Edwin Lacierda and twice we asked about the feedback to our proposal. There has been no response)," Aquino said. What request? But Villar's camp insists it has yet to receive the request for such undertaking. "We have not received anything. If they are saying that, they are lying through their teeth as they always do," NP spokesperson and senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. "If they are really want that debate, they don’t need to send letters, they can just go through me. That is if they are really serious about it," Remulla added. Informed that Lacierda was the LP's emissary, Remulla said Lacierda should identify who in the NP camp he was coordinating with in connection with the planned debate. Remulla said their party welcomes the debate but it should be held in a "neutral ground." They also need to agree on who will moderate the debate, whether the same will be televised and when it will be conducted. Survey results Aquino challenged Villar to a one-on-one debate last February after the Nacionalista Party standard bearer failed to show up at the presidential forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap). Villar supposedly accepted the challenge. [See: One-on-one debate between Aquino, Villar in the works] One of the latest surveys on presidential preference, released by pollster Pulse Asia last March 5, saw Aquino regaining his lead over Villar. Aquino's rating of 36 percent was "virtually unchanged" from 37 percent in January, while Villar's rating dropped from 35 percent in January to 29 percent. [See: Pulse Asia: Noynoy ahead anew as Villar ratings drop] Another survey, released by political monitoring organization Issues and Advocacy Center, said Villar has overtaken Aquino by 2 percentage points, with Villar getting 28 percent and Aquino, 26 percent. [See: Villar overtakes Noynoy in The Center survey] — with Johanna Camille Sisante and Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMANews.TV