THE MULTI-AWARDED Ateneo Debate Society (ADS) failed to make it past the quarterfinals of the United Asian Debating Championships (UADC), held at the University of Macau last May 16 to 23. This is the society’s first non-appearance in an Asia-wide debating tournament final since 2001.
As the last team standing from the Ateneo during the quarterfinals, ADS Team A lost by a split decision on the motion, “This house would discard tourism-reliant economic strategies.” Team A, composed of Cecile Gotamco, Shiveena Parmanand and Dwight Tan, debated as the government.
ADS’ loss was marked by its failure to defend its title of reigning champion. Just last year, ADS members Gotamco, Walter Wong and Danielle de Castro triumphed in the first ever UADC held in Thailand. The team won the votes of six out of 11 adjudicators.
“We felt a large part of it was our fault; we didn’t train and work as hard,” said Wong, ADS Vice President for the Office of Training and Varsity.
The society also suffered a loss in the Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debating Championship (PIDC) held last April 6 to 11 in the University of the Philippines Diliman. ADS sent five teams, only one of which made it to the semi-final round.
Early successes
Earlier this year, the society scored victories in two debate tournaments: the 3rd Manila Intervarsity hosted by the UP Manila Debate Circle last February 12 to 13, and the 3rd Malaysia Debate Open held last March 3 to 8.
During the Manila Intervarsity, ADS’ team The Scourge, composed of Peterson Poon, Carlo Borromeo and Kip Oebanda, won over their opponent The Black Swans on the finals motion, “This house would compel India and Pakistan to denuclearize.” It was the crowning point of a string of eight consecutive wins in the tournament.
A month later, the society scored another accolade with the win of an all-female debate team. The Powerpuff Girls, composed of Gotamco, Parmanand and Gica Mangahas, was declared the champion of the 3rd Malaysia Debate Open after successfully opposing the motion, “This house believes that cultural compatibility is legitimate grounds for differential immigration policies.”
The Ateneo Debate Society is ranked as the tenth best debate institution in the world, according to the World University Debate Rankings for 2011. It has consistently garnered numerous distinctions in national and international tournaments.
Renewed drive
In the aftermath of their string of losses, Wong said that the society is rethinking how they train their varsity members.
ADS president Job de Leon said that the society will be introducing changes to the training structure this year, but he added that the ADS debaters’ mentality and attitude to training is what matters more.
“We currently have a quota system where people have to debate a certain number of rounds before a tournament or else they pay fines. While it works sometimes in encouraging people to go, I think it has bred the mentality of training just to avoid paying up,” he said. “I think there has to be a more conscious effort to be dedicated to training and wanting to get better.”
De Leon added that the recent losses have put pressure on the team.
“After being the best in the country and in Asia for the past decade, no one is taking this harder than ourselves,” de Leon said. “There have been a lot of questions thrown around in the last year and a half about why we’ve slipped, but the point is there’s a lot of pressure on the varsity members to bring the ADS back to its old form.”
He remains confident with their “competitive roster” of debaters this year, which includes the bulk of last year’s team and a new set of promising freshman debaters.
“I think everyone’s entering this year with something to prove and I believe that kind of determination will take us places,” he said.
ADS’ next challenge is the Korea Australs, to be held from July 6 to 14 in Seoul. The society will be sending three teams to the tournament.
Editor’s Note: Job de Leon is a member of The GUIDON’s Features staff.
