Debate in the Ateneo is part of the quality education that the university offers, all students being required to take up the subject of English 211: Public Speaking and Debate in their respective course work. As such, the Col. Salipsip Debate Tournament is annually held to allow the students who are enrolled in the said subject to display their proficiency in debate.
The tournament is made possible by the Col. Salipsip Scholarship Fund through the Office of Scholarships and the collaboration of the Languages Department of the School of Liberal Arts and the Ateneo Debate Union.
The guidelines for the tourney state that the British Parliamentary format of debating will be used, with each class only able to send a maximum of two teams with two speakers composing one team. Strictly no composite teams are allowed.
The competition was held on September 29 and 30. The two days encompassed the four elimination, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the tournament. Motions varied as topics such as health and science, morality and religion, law and crime, gender issues, politics and governance, and society and culture were touched. Acting as members of the Adjudication Core were Espiridion Atilano Jr. (ADZU-HS), Sanjeev Parmanand (ADZU), and Arnold Bucoy (WMSU).
The Grand Finals took place on the 5th of October at the Brebeuf Gymnasium with the teams of English 211 – A2 under the advisory of Dr. Claribel Concepcion, English 211 – J1 under Mr. Adrian Uro, and English 211 – T2 and English 211 – V1 both under Mr. Marion Guerrero battling it out in the motion “This house would ban all procedures to alter one’s racial appearance.”
After due deliberation from the adjudicators, the title of Champion of the 2012 Col. Salipsip Debate Tournament was unanimously given to team 1 of English 211 – J composed of Jan Ryan Pescador and Jan Kenneth Antenero.
Pescador was awarded as the Grand Finals Best Speaker while the Top Ten Best Speakers of the Tournament were the following:
| Best Speaker of the Tournament | – Antenero, Jan Kenneth (Eng211-J1) |
| 2nd Best Speakers of the Tournament | – Labbay, Allyana Rose (Eng211-D1) – Cillo, Julie Ann (Eng211-F2) – Ong, Rommel Regor (Eng211-F2) |
| 3rd Best Speakers of the Tournament | – Pescador, Jan Ryan (Eng211-J1) – Españo, Ma. Chiara (Eng211-T1) – Ramos, Deorenzie Frances (Eng211- T1) – Dela Cruz, John Xyrious (Eng211-V1) – Sta. Elena, Kervin Dondi (Eng211-C2) |
| 4th Best Speakers of the Tournament | – Macansantos, Juneth (Eng211-A1) – Vicente, Gillian Cristel (Eng211-T2) – Abubakar, Hannah Zulayka (Eng211-T2) |
“This is my second time to organize Salipsip and will probably be my last, but the satisfaction that I get as a Public Speaking and Debate instructor never falters every time I see more and more students learn to appreciate the power of their voice and use it in intellectual platforms such as debate. This is a good way to expose young minds to social and political realities that we all need to be critical about,” said Adrian Uro, Tournament Director, in his message.
BRINGING HOME THE BACON. The winners for this year’s Col. Salipsip Debate Tournament, Jan Ryan Pescador and Jan Kenneth Antenero, with Emir Españo (leftmost part), Arnold Bucoy, Adrian Uro, and Sanjeev Parmanand (starting from right going to the left respectively).
WORDS BY: Sarah Gail C. Galvan
