ONE OF the things I missed during this pandemic is taking part in debate competitions. The last one I’d been into was the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) – International Humanitarian Law Debate Competition where I was invited to be one of the judges from eliminations to the final round.
Debate is a passion. It is an adversarial activity where teams give speeches in response to the points made by the opponents. They should defeat the arguments of the opposing side to win the case.
But for us lawyers, it’s a profession, a vocation, and a day job especially when we are inside the four corners of the courtroom.
There are different kinds of debate and I’ve joined in some of them, either as a debater or a judge. These are the Oxford – Oregon, Parliamentary, and just recently, Moot Court. And I want to share my recent experience with you.
On March 18 and 19, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) – Office for Alternative Dispute Resolution (OADR) organized its first-ever Alternative Dispute Resolution focused moot court competition.
This historic event was in partnership with the Legal Education Board (LEB), Association of Law Students of the Philippines – National (ALSP) and supported by the Information Chamber of Commerce – Young Arbitrators Forum (ICC – YAF) North Asia Chapter and Philippine Institute of Arbitrators (PIArb), and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). This was participated by various law schools in the country.
The competition aimed at being a training opportunity for students who will be competing in international moot competitions and those that are generally interested in ADR mechanisms, specifically International Commercial Arbitration. Participants used the 29th edition Willem D. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
Students were expected to showcase their knowledge of international law and how to apply this in the real world.
The competition proper was conducted on two consecutive days and was divided into the preliminary rounds and the final round. The entire competition was conducted in the English language and thru Zoom Meetings.
During the preliminaries, the participating teams were assigned either the Applicant or Claimant and Respondent. They will address the jurisdictional issues, merits of the problem or case, and their respective arguments based on their assigned sides presenting them before the tribunal.
The teams ideally had the chance to be both the applicant or claimant and respondent in each round of the preliminaries. The top two teams with the highest scores after the deliberation will advance to the next stage of the competition – the final round. This was live-streamed through the OADR Facebook Page and official Facebook page of the partner organizations.
I am one of the judge arbitrators in the competition. I got the chance to be the chair of the tribunal both in the morning and afternoon sessions of the preliminaries.
Happily, this is my comeback after more than two years of no debate due to the pandemic. This is one for the books./PN
