UP Diliman wins Asian debate championship

MANILA, Philippines - Three students from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) were crowned this year's Asian debate champions after beating the National University of Singapore (NUS) in the final round of one of Asia's biggest debate tournaments.

Carlo Borromeo, Valeri Inting and Jesus Falcis of UPD team 1 beat NUS 1 on Wednesday night, in a debate about whether or not inheritance should be banned. The tournament featured eight preliminary rounds and three sudden death rounds which determined the top two teams.

UPD argued that inheritance contributes to inequality in society when rich people accumulate wealth and preserve it by handing it over to relatives who did not work for that it. UPD added that this wealth should be redistributed to society for the benefit of people in the lower socioeconomic strata.

NUS, on the other hand, argued that banning inheritance will rob middle-class families who save money for the future of their children.

UPD pointed out that even the middle class will benefit from wealth redistribution when the government uses the money for a stronger social welfare system, and there has to be something to check the excesses done by the rich.

Inting was declared best speaker of the final and second best speaker of the tournament. Falcis ranked 8th best speaker while Borromeo ranked 7th.

Another Filipino, Allan Cabrera from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), ranked 4th in the best speakers list.

Meanwhile, Kip Oebanda from ADMU was declared the tournament's best judge.

This is the second time a Filipino team won the regional debate tilt since its inception in 2010. ADMU won the inaugural tournament in Bangkok, while NUS and Nanyang Technological University from Singapore won in 2011 (Macau) and 2012 (Kuala Lumpur), respectively.

It was the second time UPD debated in the final after NUS beat them in 2011.

The revolving tournament was jointly hosted by ADMU and UPD.