Details

Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, President of Ateneo de Manila University and KAS Country Representative Klaus Preschle congratulated the winners of the ADS-KAS International Debate Championship, which was also attended by students from outside the Philippines. Some participants came from as far as New Zealand, Australia, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The University of Sydney debate team (Julia Bowes, Naomi Oreb and Steven Hind) triumphed against the Monash University (Victor Finkel, Kiran Iyer, and Sashi Balaraman), debating the issue of gun ownership; Ms. Naomi Oreb was also declared as the best speaker for the entire tournament.

Debaters Charisse Borromeo, Sharmila Parmanand and Kip Oebanda from the Ateneo de Manila University made it to the semi-finals, and completed the contest as the best of more than 60 Filipino teams.

Issues on democracy, immigration, energy, climate change, political reform, and other relevant topics were debated during the five-day contest.

The event is part of the joint program between the Ateneo Debate Society (ADS) and KAS which aims to shape a democratic debate culture and to raise political awareness through debate. Currently, the joint program supports trainings of young debaters in fifteen schools all over the country and will culminate in a debate competition for high school students in November 2008.

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TOPICS

Democracy

That candidates should be disallowed from using their own money to finance their campaigns

That the West should cease pressuring transitioning democracies to hold elections

That we would abolish political parties

Energy

That the price of petrol should be determined entirely by the market

That we would drill for oil in the arctic circle

That the production of non-hybrid cars should be stopped

Science and Tech

That all state-funded projects should be open source

That genetic research that attributes negative traits to particular races should not be pubilshed

That nations should be able to charge licensing fees for the use of genetic information from their native plants and animals

Sexualities

That we would create separate units for gays in the military

That governments should ban groups that seek to 'straighten out' gay men and women

That we would allow minors to have sex change operations

Sustainable Development

That areas of high ecological value should be returned to indigenous peoples for management

That arable lands should not be used for growing crops for bio-fuels**

That individuals should be given carbon quotas

Philippines

That we should end US involvement in fighting terrorism in Southern Mindanao

That we have had enough People Power revolutions

That the Philippines should adopt Chavez-style land reforms

Immigration

That industrialized nations should be forced to accept climate change refugees

That states should remove all restrictions against the immigration of HIV-infected people

That medical workers from developing countries should not be allowed to migrate to the developed world

Weapons

That international institutions should use force to restrict the sale of small arms to African nations

That gun ownership should be restricted to law enforcement agencies

That we should rely on mutual assured destruction (MAD) rather than on nuclear non-proliferation

Conflict Zones

That the UN should hire mercenaries for military operations

That African states should recognize Tsvangari* as the rightful leader of Zimbabwe

That we would respect China's right to prosecute foreign athletes who protest at the Beijing Olympics

Business and Trade

That corporate regulators should have veto power over executive bonuses

That we would protect nationally important companies from ownership by foreign government entities

That the WTO should abandon consensus voting as the basis for decision-making

Sin

That we would ban groups that glorify obesity

That governments should not take any action to discourage individuals from smoking

That problem gamblers should have their welfare payments suspended

The US Race

That we should vote for Barack Obama on the basis of his race

That low-income ethnic neighborhoods should be protected from gentrification

That Latinos should have the right to be taught in Spanish

Health

That hymen reconstruction surgeries should be banned

That IVF clinics should be stopped from implanting embryos known to have disabilities

That all restrictions on the advertising of prescription drugs should be removed*

The Law and Child Sexuality

That we should abolish the crime of statutory rape

That we should ban police officers from posing as children on the internet to catch pedophiles

That capital punishment should be allowed in cases of child rape