The Mendiola debates

La Consolacion College Manila will host the launch and first edition of “The Mendiola Debates: The Philippine Student Engagement” to be moderated by Philippine television’s King of Talk, Boy Abunda and facilitated by ABS-CBN’s update celebrity Martin Concio today Aug. 19, 5 p.m. at the Barcelo Café along Mendiola.

The Mendiola Debates is the brainchild of Boy Abunda, who, after our meeting, expressed excitement and enthusiasm over the project and soon decided to dub the event after Mendiola, the unquestionable bastion for free speech and the historic landmark where people congregate to voice out their rights, demands, opinions, concerns or mere sentiments to whoever is currently in power in Malacañang.

The concepts and mechanics of the student engagement is based on the “Doha Debates” which runs only eight times a year in Doha, Qatar and aired globally through the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC). Conceptualized and moderated by world renowned and hard-hitting British broadcast journalist Tim Sebastian (of BBC’s Hardtalk) under the sponsorship of the Qatar Foundation, the Doha Debates invites audience members to actively participate in the debate itself after speakers from both sides of the proposition have stated their views and after the moderator has thrown his first question that will in turn spur audience reaction either by a question or an opinion.

“It’s about time that we empower our students by giving them a voice to express their views on various pressing issues and concerns affecting our country today,” explains Abunda.

The Mendiola Debates welcomes students from all colleges and universities in Metro Manila, and soon perhaps, nationwide, since this long-term project is aimed at touring various school campuses every month. The event’s next stop will be held at the Philippine Women’s University along Taft Avenue.

To those interested in joining either as proposition speaker or audience member, please text/call/email 7366741/7224205/09064974025/09282070827/[email protected]or visit our facebook page. The event’s opening salvo today is presented in cooperation wit LCCM’s Office of the Student Affairs, School of ITCS, Multi Media Communication and Digital Arts, International College, Department of Mass Communication, Center for Theater Education/Training and Digital Cinema, arte.com, LCM Student Council, Mendiola Consortium and Barcelo Café.