Two PHL teams in top 16 of World Debate ESL category

At the 2011 WUDC, 32 teams remain from over a thousand students from more than 70 nations.  The top 32 teams emerged after nine elimination rounds held over three days at the  which hosts this year's tournament. 

Olympics of Debate

 

Considered to be the "Olympics of Debate," the annual tournament has been the largest competition of its kind since 1981, with debaters from around the world coming together to test their skills. 

 

This is the second time in WUDC history that the Worlds is being held in the Philippines. In 1999, Ateneo De Manila University hosted the tournament, marking the first time the WUDC was held in Asia. The year's tournament is hosted by the La Salle Debate Society. 

 

"For the Filipinos, we want to showcase how good debate takes place. So it's a very important exercise that will bring the level of discourse, para mas tumaas taas yung pag-uusap," said De La Salle University President Narciso Erguiza. 

 

The adjudication core is co-headed by La Salle Debate Society’s alumna, Ms. Lucinda Teresa David and Cambridge alumnus debater Mr. Sam Block. The Debates follow the British Parliamentary format with 9 elimination rounds. The top 32 teams will compete to the penultimate rounds, which will eventually culminate to the Grand Finals. 

 

There are three categories for the debates, which are all held in English - Main for native speakers, ESL for English as a Second Language, and EFL for English as a Foreign Language. The current World Champions are Monash A from Australien for the main break, Haifa from Israel for the ESL break and Tokyo B from Japan for the EFL break.

 

On the first day, adjudicators' skills were tested with a live debate, with the motion "This house would ban all reporting of individual hostage taking." The Masters' tournament was held with the motion “This house would end all public funding for post-secondary education and use the money to give everyone an equal lump-sum payment on their 18th birthday to use how they see fit.”

 

During preliminary rounds, teams debated on the motion “This house would make fathers take paternity leave",  “This house would prevent politicians from making fact claims that, while not technically lies, are substantially misleading to voters”, and “This house would force large companies who leave an area to pay the costs of any resulting structural unemployment.”

 

Rounds 4, 5, and 6 were held on Day 3, with the motions "This House would require individuals to use all their wealth beyond USD 5 million for philanthropic projects.", "This House would require deaf parents to send their children (whether deaf or hearing) to mainstream schools for their primary and secondary education", and "This House supports politicians who pass progressive legislation, even where this is contrary to the wishes of the democratic electorate."

 

The final rounds which determined which teams advance to the final rounds were held on Day 4, with the motions "This House supports the free movement of labour worldwide", "This House would exempt academic disputes from defamation law", and "This House would ban all private healthcare in favour of a comprehensive public healthcare system."

 

After nine preliminary rounds, the breaks and tab positions were posted on the Achte Minute website, with data compiled with the help of Colm Flynn and confirmed by WUDC tabmaster Bob Nimmo.

 

EFL break:

 

1. Universitas Indonesia C

2. Ewha Debating Society A

3. Belgrade C

4. Defense Technology A

5. Zagreb A

6. UCD Venezuela A

7. Tianjin FSU A

8. STAN A

 

ESL break:

 

1. Tel Aviv A

2. Utrecht A

3. Leiden A

4. Ljubljana A

5. Belgrade A

6. Johannes Gutenberg A

7. BDU A

8. University of the Philippines Manila A

9. International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) A

10. Chinese University Hong Kong A

11. Galatasaray A

12. Malaya A

13. KDU A

14. Lahore Management A

15. Xavier University A

16. International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) C

 

Open break:

 

1.Oxford A (23 pts)

2. Oxford B (23 pts)

3. Monash C (22 pts)

4. TCD Hist. B (22 pts)

5. Sydney A (21 pts)

6. Yale B (21 pts)

7. Victoria Wellington A (20 pts)

8. Stanford A (20 pts)

9. Victoria Wellington B (20 pts)

10. Durham A (20 pts)

11. UCD L&H A (20 pts)

12. Auckland A (20 pts)

13. Nottingham A (20 pts)

14. Monash A (20 pts)

15. Sydney C (20 pts)

16. BPP A (19 pts)

17. Cambridge A (19 pts)

18. Sydney B (19 pts)

19. Harvard A (19 pts)

20. Melbourne B (19 pts)

21. Hobart & William Smith A (19 pts)

22. Oxford D (19 pts)

23. Alaska A (19 pts)

24. Birmingham A (19 pts)

25. TCD Phil. A (19 pts)

26. Durham B (19 pts)

27. Auckland B (19 pts)

28. Monash B (18 pts)

29. Oxford C (18 pts)

30. Melbourne A (18 pts)

31. Yale A (18 pts)

32. University of London Union A (18 pts)

 

Debate geeks can follow this year's tournament online thanks to livestreaming and Twitter.

 

In this morning's Octo-Finals, the motion is "This House would not allow a single media company to own multiple TV channels or newspapers (whether in print or online)." Netizens comment on the debates via Twitter with the hashtag #wudc, sharing their observations on the speakers and their arguments.

 

The tournament runs from December 27 to January 4 at the De La Salle University as part of the University's Centennial Celebration. The Grand Finals will be held on January 3 at 6pm at the Phliippine International Convention Center. Those interested in attending must e-mail the Tournament Chief-of-staff, Robin Sebolino at robin.sebolino@dlsuworlds.com.

The debates may also be seen via livestreaming at the International Debate Education Association website.http://www.idebate.org/streaming/wudc/  

- VVP, GMA News