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Lyceum of the Philippines, Manila — After finishing second in the preliminaries, University of the Philippines Diliman Team A comprised of Anna Arcellana and Aaron Chan claimed the top plum at the National Debate Championship. They bested three other teams namely Ateneo de Manila University Team B Vincenzo Tagle and Ces Gotamco, Ateneo de Manila Team C Danielle de Castro and Jasmine Cruz and University of the Philippines Diliman Team C Alistair Zosa and Candice Chung.

Arcellana who spoke as the opposition whip was the best speaker for the Finals. UP Diliman A was the last of the top-seeded teams remaining in the competition. The three other teams in the top four – Ateneo A, UP Manila A and Ateneo F (1st, 3rd and 4th) — all got eliminated during the highly contentious quarterfinal rounds. Ateneo C finished 5th, Ateneo B was 7th while UP Diliman C was 8th. This is UP Diliman’s second National Debate Championship win. The duo of Nico Cabrera and Claudia Poon was the first team from Diliman to ever win the prestigious title.

Arcellana and Chan also reached the finals back in 2007 (Philippine Military Academy as hosts) but lost to eventual champions Ateneo (then with Mico Biscocho and Gica Mangahas). The University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City won the right to host the 12th National Debate Championship next year.

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The World Universities Debate Championship (or the Worlds, for short) is collegiate debate’s largest competition. It attracts over two hundred educational institutions from all over the world to face off over nine preliminary rounds of debate set to British Parliamentary format. The Philippines last hosted this event back in 1999 when Ateneo de Manila won the rights to carry out and organize the tournament.

Another Philippine university will be bidding for the 2012 Worlds and I’m wishing them all the best. De Lasalle University will take its case to the council members during the 2010 Worlds at Koc, Turkey to see if they can bring back the tournament back to the Philippines. They need all the help they can get so I’m officially throwing in my support for the Lasalle ‘sbid for  32nd Worlds for what it’s worth.

Note: The Worlds take place from the last few days of December to the first week of January. Going to the Worlds is a great ‘sacrifice’ since you will be surely celebrating the New Year without your family around. The 2011 Worlds will be hosted by Botswana.

Past hosts:

2009 -University of Cork (Ireland)

2008 – Assumption University (Thailand)

2007 – University of British Columbia (Canada)

Full list of hosts and winners here

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When discussing climate change, it’s almost impossible to evade the concept of global warming. To this day. global warming continues to be a contentious topic so it’s best to be skeptical about it. While it may be true, saying that it is the only thing driving the changes in the climate can be counter intuitive in mitigating the effects of stronger hurricanes and sea level rise.

While cutting emissions could be a good idea as a long-term plan to quell the effects of global warming, it doesn’t address the problems that people are already facing now. There has to be more proactive solutions to the effects of climate change and not just the cutting of emissions. If anthropologic global warming isn’t really the cause of the changes when all is said and done, we would just be left dead in the water.

The solutions to climate change need to be more revolutionary – both in terms of intellectual approach as well as  in the financial conventions that cities and countries are used to. Unless man does something to fortify settlements, floods would always happen and the human cost would always be great.

Here are some solutions that would be more apt in my opinion:

1. Conduct topographical studies that would map out areas with an immense risk of flooding – both permanently and temporarily – by using models for sea level rise and super typhoons. Advice the people of these areas regarding the risks and if possible, give suggestions on either how to fortift buildings in the area or suggest a possible re-settlement site.

2. Hire experts that would look at the ways to construct dams and dikes that could serve as protection should the seas encroach unto our shores. This would be very costly, but if the city of Manila is to survive sea level rise, big moves would have to be made.

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The Social Weather Station (SWS) recently released a new poll regarding voter preferences of Filipino voters for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s replacement come 2010. It comes without a surprise that Noynoy Aquino is far an away the leader with 60% of the respondents saying that he can be an acceptable successor to Arroyo. What’s worth noting is that he came out of nowhere to claim this spot – he wasn’t even part of past surveys!

The first thing we have to look at is what the numbers actually mean. It doesn’t mean that 60% of the respondents would vote for Noynoy Aquino if elections were held today – it only means that 60% consider him as a good replacement for the current president. Respondents can have multiple answers so the 60% is actually an upper limit for the number that he can get. It can be surmised that 40% will not consider voting for President had the elections been held during the day of the survey. That being said, the current support for any candidate on this list is considerably less than the number on the graph. Continue Reading »

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I am fortunate enough to be tapped as a presenter for the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards. I shared the podium with fellow Bloggers Kapihan member and 2008 Philippine Blog Awards Best News And Media Blog winner Tonyo Cruz. We decided to not go with a script and just wing it. I may not be the best judge, but I think we pulled it off quite well. *giggles* (watch the video by Flippish, you’ll get it).

Continue Reading »

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As you guys would know, I consider the town of Sagada, Moutain Province as my second home. Despite the lack of coverage by major news outfits regarding the terrible ordeal that Northern Luzon has had to endure, many people (mostly in the new media) have gone out of their way to really help out and keep people up to date with what’s happening. I’ve contacted my aunt in Sagada and she told me that they’re relatively okay.

Not all areas are as lucky though – as of this posting, Pangasinan is 90% flooded and parts of Baguio City is underwater. The town of Aparri in Cagayan Valley is likewise inundated. While you may not have a personal stake in these areas, bear in mind that most of the farms have already been destroyed in Central Luzon due to Ondoy and Pepeng probably wreaked havoc in the farms further North.

Google has come up with a good map to help those who may be needing to travel to these areas.

Be safe.

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