THE ATENEO Debate Society (ADS) reached the semifinal rounds of the 2016 Asian British Parliamentary (ABP) Debates Championship held last October 7 to 13, 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
A total of 80 teams from all over Asia participated in the debates championship, which was hosted by Prasetiya Mulya University of Jakarta.
ADS members Andrei Buendia and Katrina Chan were also named two of the Top 10 Open Speakers in the competition, ranking 4th and 10th place respectively.
Other ADS members that participated in the competition were Frances Robles, Meliza De La Paz, Mikaela Filoteo, Abigail Yu, Roi Lim, and Samantha Eala. Inna Fermin also took part in the said competition as a judge.
Sentiments
Buendia said that the whole competition was “extremely difficult”, as they were put against the top teams multiple times.
“It was a wonderful learning experience to be put up against Asia’s Best,” he stated.
Although their original goal was to win the over-all championship, ADS was still able to bring Ateneo back into the Asian Semifinals after three years. Despite their loss in the semifinals in a 3-2 split decision, the participants were still awarded with consolation prizes.
“More than anything, though, we’re very eager to keep up Ateneo’s winning streak in Nationals and maybe the first Asian team to win the World University Debating Championships to be held in the Netherlands after Christmas,” Buendia added.
A total of 7 teams will be competing in the Nationals competition, while Buendia and Chan will be competing in the Worlds competition.
With reports from Andrea L. Taguines
