#NEWS | Pisay Debate Open ends in all-2025 final
By Benjamin Jacob
The battle of speeches for this year’s Humanities Festival ends with two Batch 2025 facing each other in the first Open Finals Round of Pisay Debate Open (PDO).
The Final Round was held today, December 20, at the Philippine Science High School–Main Campus (PSHS–MC) 3F Auditorium, after the elimination rounds held last week.
The event is hosted by Invictus, the school’s official debate club, with the theme “Vigere, Victoria, Tributum!” roughly translating to “flourishing with victory” from Latin.
The Strokes defended the Government side, composed of Joshua Peyton Chua (Prime Minister), Alexander Cristobal (Deputy Prime Minister), and Errol Augosto Bayubay (Government Whip), remaining undefeated throughout the tournament.
On the opposition bench is Alphonse, composed of Brent Timothy Cristobal (Leader of Opposition), Steven Breon Baguio (Deputy Leader of Opposition), and Rex Alphonse Reventar (Opposition Whip), entering the break rounds with one loss.
The teams debated the freedom-themed motion, “This house prefers (THP) a world where individuals are assigned their profession at birth and ground to fit that profession.”
In THP motions, the Government bench has to argue why an alternative world is preferable over the status quo or current world, while the opposition bench has to argue the converse.
The Government side argued a case that the alternative world will address the disproportionate amount of jobs present in the current world by adjusting to the demand for jobs. They added that assigning professions at birth would give them a “direction” in their life.
Meanwhile, the Opposition side stated that individuals cannot be happy with their jobs in the alternative world without the freedom to choose their own jobs. Moreover, they said that the government cannot address the demand for jobs as they prioritize their own interests.
The two benches of the debate experienced pressure as they faced the final round of the tournament.
Alexander Cristobal shared, “There was pressure to keep up the [undefeated] streak, and we’ve discussed before [the final round] that if we lose, we would disappoint so many people.”
Baguio, a member of the Opposition bench, was also a finalist from Carmichael in PDO 2022 but lost to china boyz.
“I did join for a bit of redemption, but mostly it was fun all throughout. But debating is fun. Giving opinions on matters opens your mind to so much more,” Baguio said.
Both teams also regretted not engaging in arguments during the round.
“[Our arguments] themselves are good. However, there could have been more said that could have improved the response to the opposition,” Chua remarked.
“In terms of engaging with the actual debate itself, there were some points that we could have [addressed]. For some responses, some needed mechanisms instead of just asking questions,” Brent Cristobal mentioned.
Earlier, the adjudication panel permitted asking Points of Information (POI), or clarifications that could be raised to the opposing bench during someone’s speech, for the first time during the tournament.
No POIs were raised by either bench during the debate.
The panel, a group of debate varsity members chaired by Invictus captain Franco Kasilag, will decide the winner and best speaker of the final round based on a simple majority from the final vote delivered after a round of deliberations.
The Top 10 best speakers from the PDO elimination finals will be announced in the closing ceremony of the Humanities Festival tomorrow.
*Disclaimer: The statements made by the debaters during the debate round do not represent their personal opinions nor the opinions of Philippine Science High School — Main Campus.
Erratum: The team name of ‘The Strokes’ was changed, along with clarifying the speakers of the quotes in the article.
