FEU debaters rout foreign teams in Australs

MANILA, Philippines - The Far Eastern University Oratorical and Debate Council (ORADEC) defeated two varsity debate teams from Australia and teams from Malaysia and Thailand in the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, or Australs, held in Melbourne, Australia last July 1-10.

One hundred teams from 55 universities representing 12 countries joined this year’s Australs, a premier youth event in the Australasian region. This is only FEU’s third foray in the tournament’s 35-year history, the first being the Australs at the Australian National University in 1996 and at the second at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2008.

Although neophytes, ORADEC debaters were able to beat teams from the University of Melbourne, with its proposal “that the developed world should not sell contaminated materials to the developing world for processing.” It also triumphed over Griffith University of Brisbane, when it argued “that governments should obtain a majority stake in companies that they bail out.”

FEU also successfully challenged Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, pointing out “‘that we should ban the use and development of all unmanned offensive military weaponry.” It bested Monash University-Sunway, Malaysia, when it emphasized “that single parents in prison should be provided with special treatment to allow them to raise their young children from behind bars.”

Donning FEU’s green and gold jackets, the ORADEC team was composed of Jesus Falcis III (4th year, AB Pol Sci), Marco Sana (3rd year, BSC Legal Management) and Gerald Baro (4th year, BSC Legal Management). The team marked a 4-4 win-loss card, just one win away from the 5-3 card needed to break into the octofinal round.

The Australs seeks to enhance critical thinking skills and modes of discourse using the English language. Competition with world-class debaters and evaluation by top adjudicators motivate the debaters to learn new trends in the methods of international debating. ORADEC hopes to build on its solid performance and barge into the octofinal round in future Australs.