MANILA, Philippines - ABS-CBN's Harapan: The Vice-Presidential Debate used three parallel mechanisms to gauge audience reaction during the event.

The first two mechanisms were online and SMS polls, which allowed viewers to vote the "truthfulness" of the answers of the vice-presidential candidates during the event. The two polls were started only at the start of the debate, and the results tallied before the end of the show.

The third and final mechanism was the Wireless Audience Response System (WARS), which allowed a random sample of audience members to vote if they believed the answers of the candidates. A total of  180 declared non-partisan citizens from different sectors in 4 areas (45 from each area)—Metro Manila, Naga, Cebu, Davao—were invited to watch the debate.

They were given a WARS device and asked whether or not they thought the candidate gave a truthful answer.

According to Maria Ressa, senior vice president of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, the use of the three mechanisms allowed the company to impose checks on the results of the voting.

"We are 100% certain of our viewer results because the same results were reflected in 3 parallel voting mechanisms: WARS, text and web.  They served as checks on accuracy.  If one had been off, it would've been red-flagged, but they all had the same results!" she said.

Ressa said ABS-CBN research had initially instructed people to do random selection for the studio audience using the WARS, but "we wanted to make it reflect socio-economic and multi-sectoral breakdown of our society as well."

"None of those who were invited to be in the studio audience knew that they would be using the WARS. They were briefed about the use of the WARS devices minutes before the debate. And they were very serious about it," she said.

The Davao audience

She said 50% of the Davao studio audience were between 18 and 25 years old while the rest were 26 years old and older.  About 10 were 45 years old and above. The Davao studio audience was evenly split male-female.

The Davao audience included 12 students from different schools, representatives of the business sector, the president of a business association and 2 other businessmen. Four came from the women's sector, one from the cooperative sector and one was a lawyer representing the Union of Mindanao Lawyers of the Philippines. 

The academe was represented by professors from University of the Philippines Mindanao campus and University of Southeastern Philippines.

The Muslim community and the indigenous people's sectors were also represented.  The other participants included a sari-sari store owner, a blog enthusiast, a motorcycle driver, a security guard, a Philippine National Red Cross volunteer, a photojournalist and a carinderia owner.

The Naga and Cebu audience

In Naga, the studio audience included representatives from these sectors: farmers, students, teachers, businessmen, church/religious, third sex, transportation, women and elderly.  Sectoral leaders randomly selected up to 5 people from their group, and the studio audience was randomly selected from that multi-sectoral sample.

In Cebu, the studio audience included 10 heads from senior citizens groups and 10 students from Ayala Young Leaders, Ten Outstanding of the Philippines-Cebu Chapter, Youth for Christ, mass communication students of University of San Jose Recoletos, and political science students of University of Cebu and University of San Carlos.

There were 5 representatives from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 5 from persons with disabilities, 10 from the Association of Cebu-concerned texters, and 5 representatives from IJM-NGO for women.

In Manila, the studio audience was on a "first come, first served" random selection of studio audience at La Consolacion College, mainly students and faculty. The studio audience did not include partisan viewers.

How the voting went

Six candidates participated in the debate namely Jejomar Binay of the PDP-Laban, Bayani Fernando of Bagumbayan-Volunteers for a New Philippines, Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People's Coalition, Manuel 'Mar' Roxas III of the Liberal Party, Jay Sonza of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, and Perfecto Yasay Jr. of Bangon Pilipinas.

The results of the voting are as follows:

Online poll: Sino ang kapani-paniwala sa mga kalahok sa harapang ito?

Roxas - 54%
Binay - 13%
Fernando - 13%
Yasay - 11%
Legarda - 4%
Sonza - 4%

TXT Ng Bayan: Sino ang kapani-paniwala sa mga kalahok sa harapang ito?

Roxas - 56.85%
Binay  -  15.04%
Fernando - 12.73%
Yasay - 7.81%
Legarda - 5.36%
Sonza - 2.21%

Pulso ng Bayan: WARS voting

Question to Bayani Fernando: Bakit itinatapon ng MMDA ang paninda ng mga illegal vendors?

Naniniwala - 64%
Hindi Naniniwala - 36%

Question to Loren Legarda: Ano ang mga pamantayan mo ng mabuting pamamahala na sa tingin mo inaasahan ng mga Pilipino?

Naniniwala - 39.5%
Hindi Naniniwala - 60.5%

Question to Mar Roxas: Kung ang pagbabasehan ay ang mga nagawa niyo sa Senado, bakit tila nakalimutan niyo ang kapakanan ng mga mahihirap?

Naniniwala - 86.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 14.0%

Question to Jay Sonza: Kung manalo kami ni Noynoy, ano ang gusto mong Cabinet position?

Naniniwala - 46.9%
Hindi Naniniwala - 53.1%

Question to Perfecto Yasay Jr.: Mas isusulong mo raw ang interes ng mga negosyante kaysa mamimili. Totoo ba ito?

Naniniwala - 46.9%
Hindi Naniniwala - 53.1%

Question to Jejomar Binay: Bakit bigo pa rin kayong tanggalin ang kahirapan sa Makati kahit pa malaki ang kita ng lokal na pamahalaan?

Naniniwala - 56.6%
Hindi Naniniwala - 43.4%

Question to Loren Legarda: Bakit sa kalikasan nakasentro ang iyong plataporma?

Naniniwala - 41.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 59.0%

Question to Mar Roxas: Kanino ka talaga naka-alyansa?

Naniniwala - 91.8%
Hindi Naniniwala - 8.2%

Question to Bayani Fernando: Susuportahan mo ba ang imbestigasyon kay Pangulong Arroyo?

Naniniwala - 56.8%
Hindi Naniniwala - 43.2%

Question to Jejomar Binay: Kahit mayaman ang Makati, bakit napakaraming squatters sa inyo?

Naniniwala - 56.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 44.0%

Question to Perfecto Yasay Jr.: Ano ang pinakamalaking problema ang susulusyonan ng Bangon Pilipinas?

Naniniwala - 32.1%
Hindi Naniniwala - 67.9%

Question to Jay Sonza: Kung ikaw ay natalo, tingin mo ba ikaw ay nadaya?

Naniniwala - 76.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 24.0%

Question to Perfecto Yasay Jr.: Alin dito ang pinaka-nagbibigay ng kahulugan sa buhay mo: career, family, health, wealth?

Naniniwala - 70.9%
Hindi Naniniwala - 29.1%

Question to Jay Sonza: Kung may genie na magbibigay sa 'yo ng isang wish, ano ang hihilingin mo?

Naniniwala - 87.7%
Hindi Naniniwala - 12.3%

Question to Jejomar Binay: Sino ang mas may malaking impluwensiya sa iyong pagkatao: ang nanay mo o ang tatay mo?

Naniniwala - 77.2%
Hindi Naniniwala - 22.8%

Question to Mar Roxas: Alin ang maituturing mong "high point" at "low point" ng buhay mo?

Naniniwala - 82.6%
Hindi Naniniwala - 17.4%

Question to Loren Legarda: Maliban sa iyong pamilya o kamag-anak, sino ang nakitaan mo ng tunay na kahulugan ng pagiging "public servant?"

Naniniwala - 36.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 64.0%

Question to Bayani Fernando: Ano ang pinakamahirap na desisyong nagawa mo sa buhay mo? Bakit ito naging mahirap na desisyon?

Naniniwala - 58.2%
Hindi Naniniwala - 41.8%

Common question by Mang Poling Magbitang: Kung sakali kayo ay manalo bilang pangalawang pangulo ng Pilipinas, ano ang inyong gagawin paramatulungan ang mga magsasakang naghihirap dahil sa El Nino?

Jejomar Binay:

Naniniwala - 55.6%
Hindi Naniniwala - 44.4%

Loren Legarda:

Naniniwala - 53.8%
Hindi Naniniwala  - 46.2%

Bayani Fernando:

Naniniwala - 55.8%
Hindi Naniniwala - 44.2%

Jay Sonza:

Naniniwala - 91.4%
Hindi Naniniwala - 8.6%

Mar Roxas:

Naniniwala - 85.4%
Hindi Naniniwala - 14.6%

Perfecto Yasay Jr.:

Naniniwala - 79.3%
Hindi Naniniwala - 20.7%

Common question by Teacher Letty: Ano ang plano ninyo para sa mga guro? Paano niyo bibigyan ng magandang edukasyon ang kabataan?

Mar Roxas:

Naniniwala - 91.8%
Hindi Naniniwala - 8.2%

Bayani Fernando:

Naniniwala - 38.7%
Hindi Naniniwala - 61.3%

Jejomar Binay:

Naniniwala - 47.0%
Hindi Naniniwala - 53.0%

Jay Sonza:

Naniniwala - 81.6%
Hindi Naniniwala - 18.4%

Perfecto Yasay Jr.:

Naniniwala - 69.2%
Hindi Naniniwala - 30.8%

Loren Legarda:

Naniniwala - 38.2%
Hindi Naniniwala - 61.8%