Diliman teams rank in top half of Worlds 2008
Jessica Hermosa | January 2008
All three of the UP Debate Society teams that competed in the 2008 World Universities Debate Championship in Thailand ranked in the top half of the tournament. UPD-A’s Claire Jiao (Journ) and Melissa Sayoc (Bus Econ), UPD-B’s Aaron Chan (Pol Sci) and Anna Arcellana (Bio), and UPD-C’s Kenneth Cardenas (Socio) and Yang Villa (Econ) ranked 70th, 139th, and 173rd respectively out of 396 teams from all over the world.
After a 3-year absence because of financial constraints, UPDS was able to re-stake a presence in the prestigious international tournament and have come away with people’s renewed recognition of the University’s debating prowess.
UPD-A performed particularly well as it is the 2nd ranked Filipino team and is ranked even higher than teams from Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Monash.
Unfortunately, no Filipino, let alone Asian team qualified for the Finals Series as it was dominated by teams from Australia, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. It was the boys from Oxford Union-A that won the championship.
With continued presence in the coming Worlds tournament, the UP Debate Society hopes to break through the glass ceiling in the near future.
View tabs here and tournament photos here.
