The 8th National Debate Championship

The 8th National Debate Championship was held last October 22-28, 2006 at the University of Baguio. The theme was “Rational Excellence through Competitive Eloquence”. Pretty big huh! *grin*

I definitely had a FUN time during the duration of the tourney. We stayed at Summer Place hotel (the best hotel in Baguio for 2006... according to them). The place was cool. It was cozy and very modern. I’m sure the guys (Joevz, Justin, William and Gian) had a grand time playing fooze-ball (I settled for billiards :)). The hotel food was blah. Good thing we packed some goodies.

We arrived in Baguio around 1 in the afternoon. We were welcomed by the organizers and were billeted right away. We ate out and got ourselves comfy for the next day’s activity.

Day 2 of the tourney was really exciting. We went to Tam-awan Village for the tour organized by UB and PMA. The afternoon was allotted for tournament briefing and Debate and Adjudication Seminar. Actually, The Mock Debate used for the Adjudication Exam was a taped debate which made it really hard to comprehend. Oh well…
Then the actual tournament…
The motion for Round 1 was “This House celebrates bigotry’s place in mass media”. (soo Isagani Cruz...).I adjudicated the match of UB-D, USI-D, ADMU-C and MMUM-B.
Opening Dinner followed round 1. Yummy food :)

For Day 3, the motions were as follows:
Round 2: “This House would ban 1st World dumping of hazardous materials in the 3rd World”. (I feel that it was a little bit pro-government unless the opposition will give a killer counterprop.) I adjudicated the match of SLU-C, UPD-B, DLSU-B and UST-C.
Round 3: “This House regrets Jose Rizal’s place of pride in the Filipino consciousness”. (The motion was a product of Ateneo Napoleonic Complex. haha) I adjudicated the match of UB-C, DLSU-C, UPB-F and Lyceum-A
Round 4: “This House regrets the role of bilateral aid agencies in the Philippine development”. (I despised this motion for lack of knowledge about the issue. haha) I adjudicated the match of ADMU-F, UB-C, UPLB-A and ADNU-B.

Day 4 was devoted to 3 rounds. One with oral adjudication and 2 silent rounds which made it a little less stressful for the adjudicators. *grin*
Round 5: “ This House believes that religiously-affiliated organizations should be covered by homosexual anti-discrimination laws”. (It was a nice motion. Loved the idea of harmonizing RAO's belief and that of the homos. Interesting.) I adjudicated the match of UPB-E, UPB-C, UPM-B and ADMU-E.
Round 6: “This House would tie development aid to the establishment of microcredit programs”. (Inspired by the news on the Noble prize winner, this motion was a giveaway for the debaters.) I adjudicated ADMU-F, SLU-C, UPM-D and FSSU-A.
Round 7: “This House would mandate permanent peacekeeping for international humanitarian organizations that operate in conflict zones”. (One of my favorites! I just love international/ political debates. I got a really-really nice round.) I adjudicated MMU-A, MMU-C, UPD-F and UPD-B.

The highlight of Day 4 was the break night party. It was held at Red Lions. This was a night devoted for booze, celebration and facing defeat (for some). Announcement for the breaking teams and adjudicators was made by the Deputy Chief Adjudicators. We also managed a post-break night party in the hotel. Ian really had it! Haha…

Day 5 was the day of the octofinals and quarterfinals. Motions were:
Octos: “This House would celebrate the wearing of veils by Muslim immigrants in western societies”. (For me it's an old issue but still very much debatable.) This was the match of UPB-D, SBC-A, UPB and UST-B. The chief adjudicator, Leloy from Ateneo, was our chair.
Quarters: “This House believes that international sporting bodies should sanction athletes who use official sporting events to make controversial political statements”. (I just hate sports debate but the addition of political color made it very interesting.) Match of UPD-A, UST-B, ADMU- F and ADMU-A. Duffie from DLSU Chaired the panel.

Day 6 was the semifinals and the championship day. I managed to adjudicate until the grand finals, an overwhelming and stressful experience at the same time.
Semis: “ This House believes that sado-masochism sex is a tool of patriarchy.” (An absolutely favorite motion by the entire debate community! haha. It was the match when all I ever wanted to do was drop my pen and listen to the debate.) ADDU-B, UPM-F, ADMU-C and UPD-B. Duffie was once again the Chair :).
Grand finals: “ This House believes that lobbying the European Union to sanction the Philippines for extra-judicial killings is in the best interest of Filipino activists.” (Very-very apt motion. With all the extra-judicial killings going on, Im sure everybody found the debate socially relevant.) UPM-F, UPD-A, ADDU-A and ADMU-C. Duffie was the Chair.)

Championship dinner followed the grand finals. Initially, I was pissed because Joevz didn’t allow me to go freshen up in the hotel after the semis. If it was the teeny-weeny brat in me or just the sheer thought of unfulfilled promise that made me act that way, I still don’t know… Oh well, friendship prevailed and my seething mode disappeared during the deliberation. Plus, we were able to make a hasty outfit change prior to the dinner.

Dinner was ok but the awarding was FAB! UP Diliman bagged the crown but Mark and I made it to the Top 10 Best Adjudicators. Yay! I guess that concretized the claim that FEU is the home of good adjudicators.*grin*

What I enjoyed the most in the tourney was the post-championship dinner party. Multi Media University of Malaysia hosted it and it was a very nice way to end the Nationals. Popeye invited me to the party which I gladly accepted. I had some nice convos with Baby Blue, Disco Top, Popeye and Licky. Malaysians are nice... So there, while some of the delegates were getting wasted, FEU guys preferred a cool and soo-FRIENDSy way of celebrating…FOOZE-BALL! It was a great balancing act because when Ian and Jox were ultra-wasted (I was wasted but I managed to recover in a couple of hours...on MY own...hehe) these nice guys of ours took care of them. Gian, Joevz, Kevz and I slept around 4 in the morning after feasting on some packed munchies and cup noodles.

Day 7 was the saddest day of the tourney… I don’t wanna elaborate but it was the bye-bye day. sigh :(

*This is just a partial post. Will post all the juicy details (pictures and what-nots) next time.*