Two senators on Tuesday, January 10 have filed a resolution proudly commending the Ateneo Debate Society (ADS) for winning the world title for the Philippines in the 43rd World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) recently held in Madrid, Spain.
Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid and Sen. Risa Hontiveros each filed a resolution commending David Demitri Africa and Tobi Leung of the ADS for winning against Princeton University of the United States, Sofia University of Bulgaria, and Tel Aviv University of Israel in the open final debate as the opening opposition.
The Ateneo De Manila University debaters’ historic win for the Philippines, is also a first in the history of the Southeast Asian nation.
Africa and Leung also bested hundreds more of institutions during the elimination rounds, proving to be formidable opponents for their top-tier competitors from around the world, Lapid said.
“This incredible achievement of the Ateneo de Manila University students Africa and Leung in the competition demonstrate the remarkable ability of Filipinos to bounce back and thrive despite heartbreaking losses, it also perfectly demonstrates that the Filipino perseverance is like no other,” Lapid said in his Senate Resolution No. 412.
Lapid said their achievement is just proof that the country’s debaters can keep up with and surpass their peers from some of the best universities in the world.
“Thank you, David and Tobi, for your historic contribution to the field of debate, not only in our country, but also in the Southeast Asia region,” Lapid said in Filipino.
Besides the championship title, the senator also hailed Leung and Africa for being awarded as the 2nd and 8th best speakers of the world, respectively. Leung also attained the highest best-speaker position that a Filipino has ever held in WUDC history.
With this, Lapid said he hopes their historic achievement would inspire many more students to persevere to reach higher levels of excellence “for the betterment of our country and the world, especially in these challenging times.”
The WUDC, according to ADS, is “one of the largest and most diverse university-level majors, hailing teams from all around the world” and follows the British Parliamentary format in which topics are only made public 15 minutes before the debate proper.
Hontiveros, for her part, said that the excellence displayed by Africa and Leung show that Filipinos are good, not just in serving our more prosperous peers, “but are also capable of competing and besting our contemporaries in the developed world.”
“Their unprecedented achievement may inspire a generation of Filipino world-class debaters and bring the art of debate in the country to new and greater heights,” Hontiveros said in her Senate Resolution No. 417.
“A healthy and thriving culture of debate feeds a working and flourishing democracy where a free exchange of ideas empowers its citizens to demand a government that is open to criticism, unthreatened by transparency and accountability, and intolerant of corruption and violence,” the opposition lawmaker stressed.