UPD A of UP Diliman became the first title-holder of the Gawad Pangulo Student Debates after it bested seven other teams on 3 September 2016 at the UP College of Law in the Diliman campus.
UPD A battled it out in the grand finals with UPB 1, one of the two participating teams from UP Baguio. UPD A had Nicole Tomas (3rd year, BA Political Science), Leomar Doctolero (4th year, BA Political Science) and Jose Antonio Sison (4th year, BA Political Science) as members. UPB 1 was represented by Niko Aguilar (4th year, BA Social Science and History – Political Science), Joemer John De Vera (3rd year, BA Social Science and History – Philosophy) and AJ Carbonell (3rd year BA Social Science and History – Political Science).
President Alfredo Pascual flanked by the grand finalists from UP Baguio and UP Diliman. Also with them are Vice President for Academic Affairs Gisela Concepcion and Atty. Rommel Casis, associate professor of law in UP Diliman, who sat in the panel of judges. (Photo: Bong Arboleda)
The debates were conducted using the Oregon Oxford format where one team affirms the resolution and the other negates it and where aspects of the case are assessed according to necessity, beneficiality and practicability.
Two other campuses, UP Los Baños and UP Manila, advanced to the semifinals. Albert Pagunsan (3rd year, BA Communication Arts), Jeremiah Endrinal (4th year, BA Sociology) and Gaston Medina (2nd year, BA Communication Arts) presented the arguments for UPLB A while Christian Manzano (4th year, BS Biochemistry), Aloysius Francis Bresnan (4th year, BA Social Sciences – Area Studies) and Marco Chinayong (3rd year, BS Applied Physics – Health Physics) defended UPM A.
The debaters had several days to prepare and research on the topics. On the day of the competition, they spoke for or against these motions: (1) resolved that the Philippines take advantage of nuclear power to support its economic development (for the quarterfinals), (2) resolved that the Philippines ratify the Paris Agreement (for the semifinals), and (3) resolved that students in state universities be required to serve the government for two years (for the grand finals).
They were judged in each round on evidence, delivery, interpellation and rebuttal.
The event was organized by the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, UP College of Law and UP Debate Society.
Gawad Pangulo Student Debates was created this year as a venue for “discourse based on intelligent, evidence-based argumentation on topics relevant to the nation”. It was approved by the Board of Regents in March.
More photos here.
