COINCIDING WITH THIS year’s Pista ng Sto. Nino, the San Beda Debate Society (SBDS) continued the 14th iteration of its annual Animo Cup entitled, “Ripping Dialogues: Unveiling Perspectives for Environmental Actions,” held at the St. Anselm’s Hall last January 26-27.
Teams hailing from both San Beda University (SBU) and San Beda College – Alabang (SBCA) competed at the debate tournament. Included in the teams competing on behalf of SBU were The Repvblic (TR), the Junior Bedan Law Circle (JBLC), San Beda Debate Circle, and SBDS. Moreover, SBCA was represented by a club from its Integrated Basic Education Department (IBED), the SBCA Debate Chamber.
Moreover, the Cup’s adjudication pool was comprised of SBDS, the Far Eastern University (FEU) Oratorical and Debate Council, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) School of Debaters.
Alexandrea Chloe Baylon, the tournament director for the 14th Animo Cup, spoke to The Bedan about how the present Animo Cup hosted a number of attendees that topped last year’s event, from having four to 14 teams.
Baylon stated how last year’s event was basically a “prelude” to returning to a face-to-face setup after years of being held online due to the pandemic. Now on its second year of having a physical tournament, she said that they have now “adjusted na from that, we’ve learned na rin kung ano dapat namin i-prepare,” marking what was to become another successful discourse.
Applying the Asian Parliamentary debate format, the tournament had three preliminary rounds, a Semifinals, and Grand Finals for both the open division and highschool division, wherein motions revolved around questions sparking environmental concern, adhering to SBU’s commitment to the papal encyclical Laudato Si’.
Making it to the Open Grand Finals were Tricia Millenas, Gabriel Santos, and Aaron Geronimo, collectively known as the Team B of SBDC, who assumed the role of debating as the government. They were up against team SBDS, namely: Sam Unabia, Kyle Benedict Omadto, and Roswell Kerby Dela Cruz, who were up against Team B as the opposition. They were assigned the motion, “This house seeks the de-prioritization of the Environment in the Philippines,” in which the opposition prevailed after a heated exchange of arguments.
At the awarding ceremony, Lourenella De Leon was awarded the first place out of the top 10 best speakers. Moreover, Aprylle Amparo was awarded the first place out of the top three best judges while Unabia was also awarded first place under the Open Grand Finals Best Speakers.
Baylon deemed the overall event as “success,” stating that amid administrative challenges and issues involving time management, as well as lack of manpower, she, together with members of the Executive Board of the SBDS, were able to realize their goals for the tournament.
The tournament director also noted the positive reactions of participants of the tournament with Millenas from (SBDC) sharing “This year’s Animo Cup is really exciting… The handling of the event was highly professional… I gained a lot of insights from this event especially with how I construct my speech properly.”
Inspiring members of the Bedan Community to join SBDS, Baylon broke the ice by saying how “unshackled” debating is when it comes to topics that are up for discourse. “Debating is not scary, it’s actually really fun and the people in the debate community are actually really nice, and very fun to be around,” she said.
(with Nate Soriano)