Photo by Manuel Ordonio IV
While the team collectively aimed to knock it out of the park, these two individuals from the swing team, inexperienced in debate, made a notable entry in their debut performance during the 1st Kastulen Regional Debate 2024.
Tobit Abao and Bai Mariza Sabdula, both first-year students of MSU College of Law-GSC, despite their lack of experience and busy schedules, showed up with dedication and perspective on a short notice for their participation.
Tobit Abao, one of the swing’s researchers, made some remarks in his recent Kastulen Regional Debate experience.
“As a first year like Ms. Mariza, I am thankful for the guidance, trust, and confidence of our seniors, Sir Edward and Sir Stanley. We knew that as swing, hanggang prelims lang kami to fill up a vacancy in the matches. Nonetheless, I am really pleased and proud of the performance of our speakers who finished strong and passionately debated our side despite the odds and challenges,” said Abao who graduated from MSU IIT in 2023 with Latin honors.
“Kastulen 2024 overall is a wonderful experience. Sabi nga di’ba, ‘it is better to debate without settling than to settle without debating,’ given the fact that issues have multiple angles; to settle without considering other perspective is to miss the whole point. I hope that this will be sustained annually since it is also a good way of building bridges with other law schools in the region,’” he added.
The swing team comprised of Edward P. Lacanilao as first speaker, Stanley Ouano Facturan as Second Speaker, & Bai Mariza Sabdula who likewise graduated from MSU GSC with Latin Honors in 2023 as the third speaker. Their researchers were Abao and Ellyn Joy Tuazon.
They competed against Notre Dame University (NDU) for the first round and Notre Dame of Marbel University (NDMU) for the second round.
Debate tournaments with other law schools serve not just a platform to build connections with but also serve as a pedestal for individuals to showcase their skills and get involved in various significant issues in an informative discourse.
