The debating team from Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros won the Visayas Regional Debate Championship-Visayas leg of the European Commission-Office of the Ombudsman Inter-Varsity Debates held March 3 to 5, at SU, a press release from the university said.

The tournament, which adopted the Asians parliamentary format with four elimination rounds, was part of the Corruption Prevention Project of the EC-OMB. In the championship round, the SU Team A, composed of sophomores Noel Jan Valente (Mass Communication), Robert Jed Malayang (Mass Communication) and Charmaine Bucol (Accountancy) beat University of San Carlos Team A composed of Karyna Sencio, Joselito Baena and Fel Louise Alingasa, on the motion "This House will allocate scarce government resources to social spending rather than debt servicing."

Fourteen teams (42 debaters) from seven schools from Cebu (University of San Jose Recoletos, University of San Carlos, University of the Philippines-Cebu), Iloilo (University of the Philippines-Miagao), Bohol (University of Bohol) and Dumaguete (Foundation University and Silliman University) faced off in what was considered as part of the first ever debate tournament that brings together the best teams from the Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and NCR regional championships to compete for the national championship in May in Manila, the press release said.

As champion, Silliman was awarded with the registration fee of P8,500 each for three debaters and one adjudicator for the 2nd Asian Universities Debate Championship to be hosted by the Ateneo de Manila University on May 18.

Both SU A and USC A will also vie for the EC-OMB Inter-Varsity Debate championship on May 12 in Manila.

Meanwhile, all six Silliman debaters also comprised SU Team A and Team B made it to the list of Top 10 Best Speakers: Bucol (Top 9), Bryce Tenorio (Top 9), Stacy Alcantara (Top 9), Justine Yu (Top 6), Malayang (Top 5) and Valente (Top 4).

The Top 3, 2 and 1 Best Speakers were members of USJR A: Arnold Castro, Emelito Torres and Jaylord Zafra, respectively, the press release added.*

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