DEBATE VICTORS. The two teams from Liceo de Cagayan University's College of Law students carry their awards in Davao City on Sunday (March 19, 2023) along with event organizers, researcher teammates, and mentors. One of the teams was declared champion in the second Mindanao inter-law school debate organized by the Association of Law Students of the Philippines–Mindanao chapter. (Photo courtesy of Julie Anne Chariz D. Roldan)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A team of law students from the Liceo de Cagayan University (LDCU) won the championship in the Mindanao-wide debate competition over the weekend, making it the second school in the city to triumph in debating events within the month alone.
Spencer Palen, leader of the three-member debate team of LDCU, said they won the competition on Sunday against the debaters from Cor Jesu College of Digos City, Davao del Sur province, at the second inter-law school debate organized by the Association of Law Students of the Philippines–Mindanao chapter held at the Rizal Memorial Colleges in Davao City.
"We dedicate this win to our very supportive college dean Atty. (lawyer) Manuel Cabrera, our coaches Judge Jerli Requerme and Atty. Jewella Tiu, our fellow debaters and researchers who made this success possible," Palen said In an interview Monday.
LDCU's Liceo Law Moot and Debate Society deployed two teams: one led by Palen with Monica Flores and Casan Ali Limbona Jr. as members, and the other composed of Kate Honey Abrogar, Charlie Cubero, and Hans Pundato Disomimba.
Palen was chosen by the three-member adjudicators as the overall best debater, while Flores was the best debater in the semifinal rounds.
Palen's group faced off with the teams from Notre Dame University from Cotabato City in the preliminaries, and the Ateneo de Zamboanga University of Zamboanga City in the semifinals.
"We are very proud of this achievement as it serves as a reward for all our sacrifices and hard work throughout the competition," Palen said.
Palen, a graduating law student preparing to take the Bar examinations in September, said he had been hoping that the newly formed Liceo Law Moot and Debate Society, created in 2021, would clinch a champion's trophy in one of the several debate competitions in the country.
Early this month, another group of law students from Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan also won the championship in the 1st Justice Hilarion Aquino National Memorial Debate Competition in Manila, organized by the Legal Education Board and the Commission on Election. (PNA)
