Dimsum and the wisdom of the youth

For a Filipino teenager in the last year of high school or in any year of college, representing the country at the annual English-Speaking Union International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) in London could be a life-changing opportunity.

In 2004, her winning the grand finals of the speechfest in the heartland of the English world, over a field of more than 60 articulate youngsters from as many countries, turned winsome, waif-like but debate-toughened Patricia Evangelista, all of 17, into an international celebrity—and a national idol—with her impressive speech entitled “Blonde and Blue-eyed,” a celebration of love of country with a novel twist. That must have been the most crucial five minutes (the time limit for the speeches) in her young life. The theme of the competition that year was “A Borderless World”.

Headed by Ambassador and Mrs. Edgardo Espiritu, our small Filipino delegation that accompanied Patricia to the grand finals was nearly just as nervous as the contestant, while the board of judges deliberated on what must be one of the toughest decisions to make in the world of competitions. The eight finalists represented different styles of delivery and creative approaches to the competition theme, all radiating confidence on the stage. But only one had to stand out. As the auditorium exploded in cheers and applause at the mention of Pat’s name as first-place winner and obvious audience favorite, the true-blue Filipino lass was tearfully calling her mom on her cell phone.

Our participation in the English-Speaking Union came quite late in our history as—I don’t know when this popular boast came to be born—“the third largest English-speaking country in the world,” so it was anomalous that until 2002, we were not a member of the English-Speaking Union headquartered in London. With a lot of help and spadework from our kababayan Loline Lualhati Reed, chairman for years of the prestige-laden Overseas Women’s Council in the UK and who held individual membership in the ESU, Ambassador Cesar Bautista initiated talks for our ESU membership. In no time at all, we produced a champion speaker.

Speech champions: Bryan Lim Chua and last year’s IPSC delegate, Germaine Chuabio

During our 10 year-old membership in the ESU, however, we have produced only one other grand champion in the person of Gian Carlo Dapul, a 16-year-old Philippine Science High School senior in 2008 when he bested 60 other speakers from 35 countries (there were now two competitors from most of the member-countries) in the London IPSC, who delivered an impressive, humor-laden five-minute speech entitled “Fish Mucus and Foot Fungus.” The theme for that year was “New Frontiers.”

I am certain we have sent the best competitors throughout the years we have been participating in the IPSC. But I suppose, like Knicks superstar Jeremy Lin, we can’t win every time, the breaks won’t always favor us. The slightest dip in composure, a momentary hesitation in responding to a post-speech interrogation from jury and crowd, a less-than-perfect rapport with the people hanging on to every word and gesture, and the absence (in substance or delivery) of whatever X factor the jury is looking for, could be the cause for not topping one’s heat in the semifinals, or not lording it over the field in the evening finals.

This year, we are sending Bryan Lim Chua, a fourth-year AB Development Studies and BS Applied Corporate Management student at De La Salle University, to the ESU London International Public Speaking Competition, whose theme will be “The Head or the Heart?” For the national selection phase, the theme that the contestants had to base their short speeches on was the trite-sounding “The Wisdom of the Youth.” How the semifinalists and the eventual finalists tackled the subject was far from trite, however, and the style with which they made their presentations ranged from comic to academic, conversational to dead earnest, exactly what we would expect in any competition of this sort. The ESU speech fest has room for more varieties of public speaking than an oratorical or declamation contest.

The finals were held one rain-washed afternoon last February in one of the classrooms at the UP College of Economics. The morning had been devoted to screening about a score of contestants from different Philippine colleges and universities. A panel of speech experts took charge of selecting the six finalists who would compete for the honor to represent the Philippines at the London IPSC in May this year. The finals panel of judges was headed by none other than retired Ambassador Bautista, current chairman of ESUPhil. The other members were Ateneo professor and ESUPhil president Marlu Vilches, visitor from London Loline Lualhati Reed, ESUPhil treasurer Erlinda Panlilio, last year’s Philippine candidate at the IPSC Germaine Chuabio, and this writer. Panel mainstays Jose Dalisay and Krip Yuson, Philippine Star columnists, were on foreign missions. 

Second placer Arizza Ann Nocum

The contest was close. Bryan Chua came on as a relaxed, savvy, and insightful commentator on a very delicate subject matter—traditional prejudices which old-school Chinese in the Philippines harbor against Malay Filipinos, and vice-versa (the latter being guilty of the more open and violent racism). He spoke of how his positive experiences with Filipinos (he’s of course a Filipino himself but one who is “Chinoy”) could serve as an example of how this old antagonism could be healed, or brought to heel. The title of his speech was “Dimsum,” that irresistible Chinese delicacy of endless variety and surprise, and I presume that the basic premise of his piece was the acceptance and celebration of diversity as the way towards laying to rest centuries of mutual distrust and suspicion.

It was practically a tie between him and the eventual second-placer, Arizza Ann Nocum, 17, and a UP BS Industrial Engineering student. Her speech was entitled “Between the Cross and the Crescent Moon.” She introduced herself right at the opening sentence as a “hybrid”—the daughter of a Muslim mother and a Roman Catholic father. I thought it was a speech that would have done well in a regular interfaith dialogue as a longer, more thorough exposition, but in five minutes she did manage to fascinate us with her personal experiences, and to impress us with the possibilities of a peaceful and harmonious society despite religious differences. Mainly, she spoke about KRIS, not a reference to the dreaded Muslim blade lethally wielded by Mindanao warriors of old, but to the Christian-Islam Peace Library that her celebrated parents established as a parallel effort in the Peace Process. (I’ve always thought “Krislam” would have been the catchier nickname for this institution.) A striking line: Think about it—kids who grow up reading, learning, playing and laughing together would find it difficult to be heirs to the tension their parents had felt. Indeed.

The judges deliberated long and hard on the final choice of the winner. In the end, it was agreed that the delivery style of Bryan—given that both speeches were on equal footing in terms of substance and significance—would likely go a little further in the London eliminations. But I would encourage Arizza to bring her message to other forums, here and abroad. Her extracurricular and NGO credentials are impressive. She could, one of these days, be selected as a Global Youth Leader.

Copping third place was the youngest finalist, Mikaela Bernardino who’s a senior high school student in St. Paul College, Pasig. Her piece sported the intriguing title “Cheeseballs, Orange Trees and Gender Confusion.” The writing was rather precocious and had some serious literary merits, so that it crossed my mind that I wouldn’t mind if it was read to me as a piece of creative non-fiction, instead of a speech to convince. But with more panache and well-placed expressiveness and spontaneity, she probably would have had a chance to clinch it.

Third placer Mikaela Bernardino

The three other finalists were Regine Ranada, 3rd year Psychology student in UP, whose speech was titled “Average 21st Century Kid” (on technology, the age of information, blogging, Twitter and YouTube); John Lenard Robles, 3rd year Business student, UP, “Chocolate Fondue” (but was actually about Google and the expansion of human knowledge); and Vincen Gregory Yu, a first-year medical student at the UP College of Medicine, “Solutions for Solutions” (thoughts on Al Gore, and some ideas for saving the earth).

These six youngsters are a formidable batch of thinkers who just might make a big difference for their country in the years to come. But for now, there’s a global challenge to win in London, and we wish Bryan Lim Chua the best. May he bring home our third championship.

(ESU Philippines and the selection committee which is composed of members of the UP Debate Society wish to acknowledge the support given by Shell Philippines and the HSBC in successfully staging this year’s competition.)

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