ANC Debates: TSU outsmarts DLSU in wildcard, enters quarterfinals
Arguing that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant should be rehabilitated and activated, the Tarlac State University College of Law (TSU COL) convinced the adjudicators and won the battle against the De La Salle University College of Law in the Wild Card Rounds of the ANC Square Off: The Firm Debates Season 13 last November 18, 2016.
The team was composed of Jonathan Pacifico, Graziela Mercado and Christopher Ronn Pagco, with Atty. Mykedox Knoel Cuchapin, member of the TSU COL Faculty, as their coach.
The debate was in the Modified Oregon-Oxford format which consists of two sides, the affirmative and the negative side. One debater per side argues on the necessity, beneficiality and practicability of their proposition.
Each speaker was given four minutes to deliver their speech and rebut the previous argument, and another two minutes to interpellate or cross-examine the opposing debater. Each adjudicator may also ask only one question for each speaker.
The judges scored each team according to: manner, matter, and interpellation. The team with the higher score with each judge gets the point.
The TSU Debate team was able to highlight the benefits of rehabilitating the mothballed power plant in Bataan, the nuclear power plant being the cleanest and most environmental-friendly of all the energy resources. They argued that the government funds should be spent wisely, and should be used in rehabilitating and activating the Bataan nuclear power plant, instead of just spending for its maintenance yearly.
“This is the start of our debate. Very supportive ang ating bagong dean sa mga projects and we can see, very competitive ang mga debaters natin. This is not the last, the best is yet to come,” Atty. Cuchapin said.
The team was supported by the TSU COL students, their dean Atty. Jose Dela Rama Jr, and TSU COL Instructor Atty. Salvador Moya II.
TSU’s next opponent for the quarterfinals is yet to be announced. (Ruth Hazel A. Galang - OPAI)
