With the theme “Redefining Debate,” 30 teams from debate organizations of various colleges and universities around the country, including independent participants, came together to the 12th Benilde Intervarsity (BIV) Debate Competition organized by Benilde’s Debate Society (DebSoc) held at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Taft Campus last March 7-8.
Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Team A, consisting of Edbert Ragadio, Azi Dela Paz and Abbo Hernandez emerged as the champion over Vic Baguilat, Jayson Maulit and Charles de Belen of San Beda College (SBC) Team A. The said teams debated on topics regarding economics such as bailing out Greece, funding for social welfare, and privatization of government assets.
Top 10 speakers include Maulit, Hernandez, Ragadio, Baguilat, Jon-jon Avila of University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Avianna Castano of De La Salle University, Azi De La Paz of ADMU, de Belen, Angela Conejero and Aloysius Bresnan, both from UP Manila, respectively.
The top 12 judges or adjudicators were Mark Escay, Marco Del Valle, Gabriel Abeleda, Denise Recomono, Jean Tiburcio, Kelly Abagat, Danielle Erika Hill, Blessilda Gamboa, Benjamin Angelo Gumboc, Krystelle Manzanares, Trisha Saille and Gabi Timbancaya.
Each team consisted of three members and a judge in the contest run. The competition used the Asian Parliamentary format of debate, wherein the team that wins gets one point on each round. Seven-minute speeches were given to each speaker of each team.
Aside from the group debaters, adjudicators were also asked to justify decisions through oral adjudications which were graded by the teams from points 1-5, 1 marking the lowest and 5 as the highest. Through these scores, judges were also given the chance to compete and to be recognized.
On the first day, there were four rounds of debate were top 16 teams and top 20 adjudicators advanced after accumulating the most points at the end of the day. Topics included love, health, ignorance, and justice. On the second day, eliminations started through another four rounds entitled octofinals, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The topics included arts, labor, supernatural beings, and economics.
As a “warm-up competition” for Philippine Inter-Collegiate Championships (PIDC), BIV serves as the oldest of its kind in the country according to Jeremy Mendoza, DebSoc Team Captain.
In his statement, the theme of the contest differs from their previous organized BIVs in consideration of how debaters sometimes “lose track of what really matters in debate.” For this conference, they considered topics that are “close to their hearts,” ultimately redefining the debate themes.
“The glory of winning often takes precedence [over] any other goals,” he said. “I think because of this mind set, debates lose their value as a means for discourse.”
Mendoza also added that debate is always a venue for exchanging ideas that will further invoke realizations to certain issues in the society. The sharing of constructive opinions will also help produce a more concrete views of analyzing issues existing in the society.
“They say that the hardest and most valuable of diamonds are made from the most heated and pressured environments. So it is with debates, the most brilliant ideas come from rounds with well-thought of arguments made by the most passionate speakers,” he said.
As early as July last year, the organizing team (OrgCom) already prepared for the event. The team was lead by two people: the Tournament Director and the Convenor. Eunice Luciano, DebSoc President, acted as Tournament Director, responsible for all logistical, institutional, and financial concerns. Mendoza, as the Convenor, is in charge of relaying all the concerns of OrgCom to the debating community.
Mendoza is also expecting that after the event, the debate will help produce more skilled public speakers and disseminate more ideas that come from different perspectives.
Miguel Ventura, a BS-Economics major from UP Diliman shared “It’s competitive because you’re really out to fight each other and make it clear that you’re going to win, [but] debate is just really fun.”
