Carmelo Panlaque, Jr. and Nina Patricia Cesar (center), the tournament champions with the ADV moderator, Akeem Jade Fabila (second at the left) and the executive board members of the organization. Photo by Rimuel Morales
The Ateneo Debate Varsity (ADV) hosted the 11th annual Loyola Cup, a debate tournament for the organization’s new recruits during June 27-28, 2015.
Before the tournament was held, the ADV held their yearly Jumpstart Program which taught the new recruits the basics and essentials of debating. The program lasted for two weeks with sessions taking place every activity period of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
The recruits were placed into four groups which were named after four of the university’s buildings: Canisius, Finster, Bellarmine, and Wieman.
Mr. Akeem Jade Fabila, the organization’s moderator, stated that the Loyola Cup is a tradition of the ADV that aims to train new debaters.
“The Loyola Cup has been a tradition of the Ateneo Debate Varisty. It’s held every first semester, and its goal is to train and to hone the new generation of debaters. It is basically a debate tournament for newbies of the debate field. And it’s also a good way for the Ateneo Debate Varsity to find and discover some talents that could hopefully join the junior varsities and senior varsities.”
The tournament was well received by its participants, Miguel Narciso, a new recruit stated that he gained progress as a debater because of the event. “Lingaw siya. Nag-improve ako due to Loyola.”
The grand finals took place at room D200 of Dotterweich building. Afterwards, the results were announced:
Top 9 Best Speakers of the Tournament:
1st Best Speaker: Geena Cajeta
Finster A
2nd Best Speaker: Kyre Fernandez
Wieman A
3rd Best Speaker(s): Sophiya Avisado
Wieman C
Nina Patricia Cesar
Canisius A
5th Best Speaker(s): Robien Christopher Cerbo
Canisius B
Danielle Miral
Bellarmine C
7th Best Speaker(s): May Gales
Finster A
Carmelo Panlaque, Jr.
Canisius A
Kate Galagala
Canisius C
Grand Final’s Best Speaker: Nina Patricia Cesar
Champions: Canisius A:
Nina Patricia Cesar
Carmelo Panlaque, Jr.
The tournament concluded after a short awarding program.