Date: April 17-22, 2015
Venue: University of the Philippines, Diliman campus and the Asian Development Bank
Contact: updebatesociety.com/PIDC, facebook.com/pidconline
Details: Over 320 debaters and judges will be welcomed for the Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debating Championship (PIDC). Eighty teams will compete for the coveted national title. Now on its 15th year, the tournament is the largest national debate competition in the Asian Parliamentary format and is organized by the UP Debate Society.
The adjudication core of this year’s PIDC are the following: Allan Cabrera from Ateneo de Manila University, Garie Ouano from University of the Philippines Diliman, Kevin Ganchero from Far Eastern University, Karlo Antonio from San Beda College, and Paolo Franco from De La Salle University Manila. At the end of the five-day tournament, Philippine’s top ten debaters and top ten adjudicators will be awarded along with the tournament champions.
The motions of PIDC cover a wide range of pressing topics, from perennial issues on minority rights, state paternalism, and religious exercise to recentissues on economic integration, technological development, and medical breakthroughs. Historically, the final round of PIDC is philosophical in nature. In 2012, debaters discussed the ramifications of mankind knowing the end of time and in 2013, the final round explored the possibilities with technology that could alter historical narratives. Last year, the Championship Round was about the role of political leaders in telling their constituents to counter poverty through hard work.
