Team A of the UP Debate Society (UPDS) brought home the championship in the 3rd annual Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debating Championship (PICD), battling UP Manila in defending the motion “This House celebrates the rise of political activism in public universities.”
UPD Team A is composed of Claire Jiao (BA Journalism, 2009), Christian Villa (BS Economics, 2009) and Raymund Vitorio (BA English Studies, 2009).
Jiao and Villa also tied as the tournament’s overall Best Speakers while Vitorio placed 3rd.
The PICD is “the country’s most prestigious debate tournament in the Asian Parliamentary format,” according to Clarisse Osteria, president of the UPDS. It drew 150 participants from20 institutions, including those from the Visayas and Mindanao.
The event, hosted by the society, was held at UP Diliman April 15-20.
Two other UPD teams reached the quarterfinals in said event. Team B, which was composed of Anna Arcellana (IV, BS Biology), Aaron Chan (IV, BA Political Science) and Bianca Deslate (III, BA Pol Sci) and Team D composed of Richard Beltran (BA Pol Sci, 2009), Samantha Tirthdas (IV, BA Broadcast Communication) and Nigel Cornel (III BA Broad Comm).
Osteria described the society’s strongest performance in the recent competition as “a full contingent break,” where all the adjudicators advanced to higher rounds, qualifying as part of the top 16 teams. “This is a first in the history of the PICD,” she noted.
Angelo Kalaw (III BS Economics), Marc Batac (BA Pol Sci, 2009), Mikee Sevilla (II BA Psychology), Paolo Bernardo (III BA Pol Sci), Tina Hipolito (II BS Econ) and Maan Espinosa (II BS Econ) were deemed eligible to judge the higher rounds.
Kalaw was named 2nd Best Adjudicator in the Philippines, followed by Batac (5th) and Sevilla (10th).
A month later, UPDS made a strong presence at the Asian Universities Debating Championship when UPD Team A placed 3rd overall after the preliminary rounds, making it the highest ranking Filipino team in the competition.
UPD Team A, who reached the quarterfinals in said event, was composed of Arcellana, Vitorio and Alistair Zosa (III BS Business Admin and Accountancy). Mahonri Ancada (III Pol Sci) placed 15th in the overall adjudicator rankings while Vitorio was named 10th Best Speaker of Asia.
Billed as the most prestigious tournament in the Asian region, the competition was held May 14-20 at the East West University in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Earlier, members of the organization placed favorably in MINT IV, a tournament for novice debaters.
UP Probee B, composed of Arcellana, Jonjon Avila and Tirthdas defeated the Ateneo de Manila University Team B in the finals. Tirthdas was named 2nd Best Novice Speaker and Arcellana Best Speaker of the Finals.
The tournament was held February 14 to 15 at UP Manila.