Twice in a row. 

Accountancy (ACC) Griffins representatives Edrian Louis Nabos, Princess Jumawan, and Anne Gayle Binancilan defended their cluster’s championship title after an intellectual toe-to-toe with the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) Tigers during the Ignatian Cup 2021 Grand Finals.

Last year, the ACC Griffins bagged their first-ever championship title after two years of losses in the past debate competitions. 

Arguing as the opposition in the motion, “This house would (THW) choose the job they are passionate about,” the Griffins won against the government Tigers team composed of Leigh Clyde Raper, Troy Duallo, and Janel Sungkip. 

Finals Best Speaker Binancilan argued the motion using her story of choosing the Accountancy program over her musical passion to ensure financial security and stability before pursuing the latter.

“I want to have money first to sustain myself, to sustain my family, and to sustain my musical career. We are not removing passion from people, we are simply reminding you that we have to be financially secure first before we pursue [our] passion,” Binancilan argued. 

“It is still possible that people still seek financial help for matters because they failed to recognize how these passionate jobs are giving them low income whether they like it or not, whether they succeed or not. You can still suffer while pursuing passion,” she added.

Debating over practicality and inner satisfaction in one’s career, Binancilan cited Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs stating, “the need to pursue your physiological and safety needs before going for love or self-esteem, where you are pursuing what you are passionate about.”

Such strategy, according to Binancilan, is anchored to their team’s intensive training on speech structure modification to adjust to the new trends in debating. 

“During the rounds, we had to be flexible in applying the adjudicators’ comments into our next speeches. It was a big risk because we aren’t sure if our modified structures would work, but we managed to push through,” she said. 

When asked what contributed to their success in the tournament, she credited their debating backgrounds and training with supportive seniors who prepared them both in mental and technical aspects of the competition. 

“I and my teammates were classmates during junior high and were in the same debate varsity, which helped us be more comfortable with each other and adjust to our roles. Our ever supportive seniors who never failed to give us constructive comments during training and impromptu debate 101 sessions helped us a lot as well,” she said.

ACC Griffins ‘#MadeForMore’

Further tackling the importance of their win, Binancilan expressed it served to prove that any respite never obstructed them to do what was best for their cluster. 

“Winning the Ignatian cup is a significant win for accountancy for we placed upon ourselves the goal of retaining the win within the cluster. For our team specifically, this win proved how our slight hiatus in debating won’t hinder us from doing our best for the cluster,” she said. 

Accordingly, it served as an inspiration and a challenge for the upcoming events and “for our fellow accountancy freshies and seniors that we are #MadeForMore.”

Princess Jumawan and Jhonna Grace Cayanan, both from the ACC cluster, were hailed as the Overall Best Speakers while Edrian Louis Nabos placed fourth in the ranking.  

The Ateneo Debate Varsity spearheaded this year’s Ignatian Cup, streaming the semis and final rounds via their Facebook page, August 14.