IT’S BEEN 15 years since the Philippines won in the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC).
On Jan. 3, Mikee De Vega and Jason Dizon of the La Salle Debate Society (LSDS) clinched the crown again, beating more than 164 teams in the English as a Second Language (ESL) category at WUDC 2016 held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
De Vega is in 4th year college at DLSU taking up BS in Legal Management and BA in International Studies major in European Studies, while Dizon is in 3rd year, also as a BS Legal Management student.
Other teams that have won ESL titles were Ateneo De Manila University in 2001, and University of Santo Tomas in 1999.
The motion for the grand finals was: “This House supports the decline of the nation-state’s power in an increasingly globalized world.” Following the British Parliamentary format, LSDS was assigned the opposition side.
Presenting arguments centered on free markets and the rise of multinational corporations, LSDS bested their competitors from Seoul University, Universitas Indonesia and Germany’s RWTH Aachen University.
De Vega was also awarded third-best speaker out of 351 participants.
Twin victories
The twin victories were the fruits of long days and nights when LSDS went as far as staying in the campus to train. There were moments when the team members said they felt like giving up.
To join a debating team, they pointed out, is not about competing; it is a calling. De Vega was involved in theater before she realized that debating gave her more challenge. Dizon used to play football in grade school until an injury forced him to rethink his priorities.
It is important to note that both of them developed their debating skills during their high school years. Curiously, De Vega and Dizon met at a debate competition just before they entered college.
Dizon is currently LSDS president, a post which De Vega used to occupy.
The journey to winning in WUDC 2016 was surreal for the two, and it wasn’t just another “work hard, play harder” story. They were actually eliminated in the quarterfinals at the national level, a heartbreaking experience which all the more goaded them to go on and take it to the limit.
They refused to give up, bent on slaying the giants, so to speak, and they prevailed. Both stood out with their firm rebuttals, unbreakable banners, and heartfelt final speeches.
Truth to tell, the tandem did not have enough time to prepare for battle since they flew to Greece two days after the nationals. Despite starting out as fledglings, they ended up with a trophy in their hands.
Hopefully, their eloquence would go beyond debating competitions. They have a bright future with the skills they have honed.
Dizon believes he can influence people in a positive manner because debating is about making a firm stand on an issue. For De Vega, the art of debating enables the practitioners to see and understand things from wider perspectives, even if they have personal biases. She also wants to promote debating whenever and wherever possible.
They are so passionate about intellectual discourse, that after college they plan to be adjudicators in debate competitions.
Debating is more than a contest of who has the most articulate and persuasive arguments. It is a battle of ideas.
Not everyone likes to watch a debate, but thank God there are such passionate debaters as Mikee De Vega and Jason Dizon who love to take serious world issues up for discussion.
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