Debate with Mare at Pare (Debate With Mare And Pare) is a highly watched open debate show in the Philippines. It is aired every late night Thursdays (technically Friday at 12:00 midnight) on GMA Network. It is hosted by Pareng Oscar Orbos and Mareng Winnie Monsod.
The program has been awarded by the Philippine Movie Press Club as best public affairs program and best talk show by the Catholic Mass Media Awards.
Debate is the first of its kind in the country, combining information and entertainment in discussing various issues. The hosts act as moderators of the debate.
Debate pioneered the use of highly computerized televoting system, wherein televiewers cast their votes on the featured issue. These include SMS, internet voting, and telephone voting. From 1998 to 2000, pagers were used when SMS were not yet in the market,
Debate first aired on November 18, 1998. From February to June 2001, Mrs. Monsod was briefly replaced by TV news anchor Mel Tiangco when she ran for the position of senator.
The program is confrontational, bold, fiery, spontaneous, and highly opinionated. Not only that, it has become a venue for people to reach out and even confront Philippine officials. It has also become an important tool in policy making decision of Philippine leaders.
Read more about Debate With Mare At Pare: Hosts, Voting Process
Famous quotes containing the words debate and/or mare:
“A great deal of unnecessary worry is indulged in by theatregoers trying to understand what Bernard Shaw means. They are not satisfied to listen to a pleasantly written scene in which three or four clever people say clever things, but they need to purse their lips and scowl a little and debate as to whether Shaw meant the lines to be an attack on monogamy as an institution or a plea for manual training in the public school system.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“A face peered. All the grey night
In chaos of vacancy shone;
Naught but vast sorrow was there—
The sweet cheat gone.”
—Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)