Elegant Ranting

Asian Universities Debate Championship, May 19- 26, 2006

Ateneo de Manila University Campus

This has got to be my most un-fabulous tournament to date. I got to the event exactly the day when the debate rounds started. Back in Davao, I was driven from sanity by my thesis and my illusive panelists. Two days into the tournament, I didn’t even know if I could go. I defended my thesis prematurely just to get there on time.

Moreover, the day before the debate rounds start, I accidentally drank what seemed like decayed matter from a can of pineapple juice. I was thinking FOOD POISONING, I’m not gonna make it to Manila without being jaundiced and frothing in the mouth. Good thing I survived.

My flight was at 5:35 in the MORNING. I bought the ticket on the spot, so, I wasn’t even sure that there was a vacant seat on that aircraft! The Alchemist is so right. Plane went on schedule, it being the first flight of the day. Fair weather when i arrived and the taxi ride was great. I didn’t even have time to change. I went to the Hotel, dropped my stuff off and went straight to the first round. Needless to say, I didn’t have practise.

We did win against the University Muhammadia of Jogjakarta (Indonesia), winning margin of 9 points. Those guys were quite friendly. I got really chummy with them after I got a whiff of their Gudang Garam. Which apparently means ‘ Salt Storehouse.’ Hmmm… They gave me a thousand Rupiah (which is worth around five PH Pesos), a hundred Rupiah coin (they say can buy you a candy)and a cute little key chain. So sweet. Apa kabar!

Second round, we went up against Mindanao State University- Marawi. We won by a 7 point margin. The debate was about making porn stars wear condoms while doing their… ehem… work. We were adjudicated by Azahan from the International Islamic University (Malaysia.) He was very nice. During the match up announcements, the MSU team made a little scene at the ampitheatre, t’was so funny.

Third round, we lost to Nan yang Technological University team B (Singapore). It was the first round for the second day of debating. I think our teams were both nervous in the round. We lost by 3 points.

The fourth round was another disappointment. We lost to University of Santo Tomas team B. Their case sounded better the way our adjudicator, Sir Martin of UPD, said it. They won by 2.5 points.

I was really praying for an easier match for the fifth round. We went up against Siliman University. We won by a whopping 9.5 points. Amazing it was.

Sixth round, another downfall, another UST team. They won by 2 points. We really didn’t buy the decision. Ravi Prajapati from Assumption University (Thailand) adjed our round. I mean, it’s totally wrong for the Opp to concoct their own standards without reasoning how the first one was faulty. And the adj apparently thought it made sense for them to do this, and ignored the fact of it. Debates ended at 9:00 PM of day 2.

The last round was at the third day of debating. Thepparith Senamngern of Assumption University (Thailand) adjudicated our round against De La Salle University. Our case was pretty simple but I think DLSU team was a little bit dismissive of our more important arguments. Certainly they didn’t think we’d beat them but that was what happened, and I wasn’t even half surprised.

We ended the Pre-final rounds wit 4 wins and 3 losses. Unfortunately, a win short of making it to the Octo-finals. Competition this year was pretty tough since its just here in the country. Most of the best are all within our yard. At least I met lots of cool people. Hello to Fern from Assumption University (I warn you, I will crash at your place in Bangkok), the guys from Jogjakarta, that dude from National University of Singapore (Alex was it? or Mark? Sorry) i do hope I bump into you in Singapore, you promised me a drink. I have a crush on that monk from Mahidol University, he’s sooooo cute I’m converting to Theravada. Sawas dee khaa.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 9:28 am and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.