THE ATENEO Debate Society (ADS) was unsuccessful in its bid for a second United Asians Debating Championship (UADC) title, with its two teams, ADMU 1 and ADMU 2, finishing 6th and 10th, respectively.
ADMU 1, composed of Allan Cabrera (BSM AMF ‘14), legal management senior Inah Robles and communications technology management senior Nick Fortuna, was bested by representatives from Singapore Management University in the octofinals.
On the other hand, ADMU 2, composed of management senior Daryl Isla, political science junior Andre Miko Alazas and management economics junior JV Valerio, lost to a team from the National University of Singapore in the pre-octofinals.
Political science junior Ilkka Ruso and management economics sophomore Frances Robles also represented the ADS as judges in the competition.
Several individuals of the ADS, however, were awarded for their excellence in the competition.
Peterson Poon (BS MGT-H ‘12) was named 9th best adjudicator.
Meanwhile, Cabrera and Inah Robles were 2nd and 5th best Open Category Speakers, respectively.
Last year, two ADS teams, ADMU 1 and ADMU 3, finished in the semifinals and octofinals of the UADC, respectively. They co-hosted the competition with the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
ADS were last champions in 2010, when they topped a group representing Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The ADS were also runners up in 2012, when they were defeated by NTU.
This year’s UADC was held at the NTU in Singapore from May 25 to June 2.
Optimistic outlook
Current ADS President Inah Robles said she is still proud of her organization’s finish in the competition, despite the two teams’ lack of training.
Management economics junior Bharat Keswani and health sciences junior Mike Agoncillo were both originally scheduled to compete at the UADC as part of ADMU 1 and ADMU 2, respectively. However, both were unable to make it due to travel and visa issues.
As a result, a number of last-minute changes were made to the two teams. Fortuna, who was originally a part of ADMU 2, was moved to ADMU 1 to replace Keswani. Valerio, who was originally a judge at the event, took Fortuna’s place in ADMU 2. Isla, who was also supposed to be a judge, replaced Agoncillo.
“I think the team handled the switch well, considering that [the two teams] both ended up in the upper half of the tournament. They finished 6th and 10th out of 118 teams from all over Asia,” said Inah Robles.
However, she admitted that as the competition reached the latter stages, the rounds became tougher.
“Despite that, ADMU 1 and 2 lost on a 2-1 split, so it was a good attempt. [We just need to] train harder, read more and do more preparation tournaments. Debate is really about continuous training and reading,” she added.
Inah Robles remains hopeful of ADS’s chances in the next edition of the UADC. “Everyone who competed this year will still be [competing with ADS] next year. So it’s a young contingent,” she said.
Editor’s Note: Nick Fortuna is a member of The GUIDON’s Inquiry Staff.
