To the World Debate Community:
I am happy to say that the DLSU Worlds Bid has been exponentially receiving feedbacks and support. Here are the top 11 reasons why you should vote for Manila Worlds this Council:
1. Excellence and Representation in Adjudication
The Philippines is one of the most successful debating countries in the world thanks to the efforts of legends like Ian Lising. It is home to numerous top WUDC break debaters and finals adjudicators. The quality of adjudication in the Philippines is outstanding. But we don’t want to rest on laurels. We don’t think it’s enough that we have excellent adjudicators locally. We think the world’s different debating traditions should be fairly represented in the adjudication pool of WUDC 2012. This is why we won’t just say we will subsidize adjes. We will tell you how many we will subsidize: 60 highly qualified adjudicators from all over the world to augment our local pool. That’s right, we will be subsidizing 60 excellent judges.
Of course we won’t just assist our very qualified adjudicators by subsidizing their registration fees. We will also provide them with airfare subsidy. We are committing at least 1,500,000.00 PHP (Approximately 33,000.00 USD or 22,000.00 Euros) to partially/fully subsidize the adjudicators that will be selected by the adjudication core via an application process. The number of judges that shall be subsidized by DLSU shall be distributed among the major debating regions to ensure both quality and representative adjudication.
Further, we will be facilitating debate workshops all over the Philippines which will be opened to Asia and other countries as well. This program will be architected by our CA, Sam Block. As early as now, we have been getting commitments from great debaters and adjudicators saying that they are interested to participate as facilitators/lecturers in these workshops.
This is our unmatched commitment to international representation and excellence in adjudication.
2. CA and 5 other members of the Adjudication Core
This commitment is embodied in our choice of co-Chief Adjudicator: Sam Block. If you’ve ever heard Sam speak and wished you had a tape recorder after, we are certain you know why we chose him: Best Speaker at WUDC 2008, EUDC 2007; Winner of Euros, Oxford IV, International Mace (the UK & Ireland National Championships) and LSE Open. His judging credentials are equally epic: CA EUDC 2009, DCA EUDC 2008, Final Panel WUDC 2009, invited judge at WUDC 2010.
An application process for DCAs shall be opened to the community should we win the bid. We will solicit feedbacks from the world debate community after the application process. Members of the adjudication core shall come from each of the regions (Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East). Recognizing that ESL/EFL concerns must also be represented in the adjudication core, we shall be appointing an ESL DCA given the increasing number of ESL/EFL participation at Worlds.
3. Promote ESL/EFL interests
We think it is extremely important to hold ESL/EFL quarterfinals and we will not renege on this commitment. We also want to make sure that the language used to craft motions is accessible to all and will make our DCAs available to teams who want further clarification. We will also appoint an ESL DCA who knows the issues facing ESL and EFL teams and represent them to the adj core to make sure that these issues are addressed consistently throughout the tournament.
4. No Hidden Costs of Living
Hidden costs in tournaments are usually associated with the cost of living in a big expensive city. But in Manila, everything is ridiculously cheap. A decent meal can be bought for 50.00 PHP (Approximately 1 USD). In fact, according to ECA International, Manila is among the friendliest and cheapest cities in the world. This assumes that you even have to shell out money. In DLSU Worlds, you only have to worry about your shopping money as almost all meals, all transportation needs during the tournament, and your debate logistical needs will be provided. We want you to use your pocket money instead to enjoy the shopping mecca that is Manila. Stroll around the 3 of the largest malls in the world (Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, Mega Mall). Bargain deals for clothes, shoes, dvd’s, electronics will make even your mum glad she gave you extra cash for Worlds.
Registration fee is set at a maximum of 385 Euros in the worst-case scenario and this is even cheaper than the past 2 WUDC reg fees. The reg fee is set at this level because we have tried to be conservative in factoring in possible inflation and unpredictable shocks to the current world economy. As we are getting a lot of commitments from sponsors, our University underwriting our expenses and massive amounts of alumni support since our worlds bid is the central focus of the University Centennial Celebrations, we hope to bring down the cost further.
Cost of airfare is also relatively cheap from all over the world especially if booked early. In order to make this possible, we will do our best to have an early registration system and send out regular updates on cheap fares available on the market.
5. Best Tabs Team Imaginable for a 400 team cap
We are organizing the best tabs team available. We are glad to have Asia’s Latif (Asians 2009 Tabs Director, CA of 2008 Asians, Asian Champion) to be part of our Tabs Team! Check who else we are inviting on-board soon.
Slots in Worlds are a scarce resource. A lot of teams are interested in participating but are not able to because of the limited slots available. In order to cater to the growing World Debate Community, we have decided to expand our team cap to 400 right off in order to accommodate more teams in Worlds.
6. 9 Fantastic Social Events
You haven’t been to Manila if you haven’t experienced its nightlife. We are holding 9 social events at the hippest and most internationally acclaimed bars/clubs around Metro Manila. Alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages on these nights will be free and overflowing. Alcohol is so cheap in Manila that you can afford to fill a bathtub full with beer and alternately swim and drink in it if you so desire.
7. Unprecedented Institutional Support
De La Salle University will be celebrating its Centennial Year in 2011-2012. In line with this, the University has put our Worlds bid at the heart of the celebrations and at the top of its priority list. The support of the University has been extensive that it is even sponsoring the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate (WUPID) in Malaysia this year just to show everyone that it is committed to shell out all the financial support that we need to promote our bid to host worlds. Moreover, sponsorship and logistical support from the biggest companies are fully expected as the alumni of DLSU occupy the top echelons of the corporate world in the Philippines. And if we are lucky, the next president of the Philippines might even be a Lasallian!
Should DLSU win the bid, a special office specifically for the organization of Worlds will be established. This office will work closely with the 14-person staff of the DLSU Marketing Communication Office to ensure maximum media mileage and attract top sponsorship packages.
Our convener and the organizational committee have direct access to the University Chancellor and Vice Chancellor as they function as the immediate advisers of the Organizing Committee. Talk about unprecedented University support!
As an organization, the La Salle Debate Society is a veteran at hosting national and international tournaments. Aside from consistently hosting one of the largest national high school tournaments yearly, DLSU also founded and hosted the first Asian Schools Debate Championship gathering participants from all over Asia. It has hosted the Australs and the All Asians in the past and the international La Salle IV. Moreover, the Organizing Committee is composed of people with varying specializations crucial for the proper organization of worlds such as finance, economics, education, marketing communication, information technology, literature, development studies, & engineering to name a few.
The De La Salle Worlds bid has been 3 years in the making. We have worked very hard in preparing and carefully planning this bid in concert with the University Administration. This is evident in the fact that DLSU announced its pre-bid last December in Cork, Ireland. This shows the amount of dedication of De La Salle University just to provide the World Debating Community with an excellent tournament experience.
8. Unbeatable Hospitality and more bang for your buck
Your accommodations will be at a 5-star hotel with amazing facilities. We have been coordinating closely with the most prestigious hotels in Manila (Manila Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, The Peninsula Manila, Manila Diamond Hotel to name a few) and they are very excited about the idea of being chosen as the official partner hotel of DLSU Worlds.
We will be providing 4 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and dinner) that will accommodate all dietary needs, with unlimited access to coffee and drinks for the entire duration of the tournament.
Transportation for the entire duration of the tournament will be provided with a fleet of 35 busses at your service bringing your transport costs during the tournament down to zero. All participants will also be fetched from the airport and serviced back for the tournament.
And if for some reason, you want to go exploring on your own, the flag down rate of a cab in Manila is about 0.51 cents (euros) and metro trains are even cheaper at 0.15 cents (euros) for a single ticket. The cost of living is extremely low in the Philippines so you can get more bang for your buck.
9. Lovely warm weather, exciting excursions, and amazing post-tournament fun!
In Manila, December is the perfect time to go to the beach, take a swim in the 5 star hotel pool, go diving and perhaps swim with the biggest fish in the world – the whale shark which can only be found in the Philippines!
Cool excursions are being coordinated by our excursions team as early as now. And when we say cool, we mean this in the strictly colloquial sense. It doesn’t snow in the Philippines so you don’t have go to your debate venues at freezing temperature. There will be no cold winds or a wet mushy ground to distract you from prepping with your partner. The sun will be out and a refreshing breeze will be blowing since it is December. All debate rooms are fully air-conditioned so it will never be uncomfortably warm.
See the world’s smallest volcano in Tagaytay, or revisit history and ride a ship to Corregidor. From Intramuros to the hot Springs of Laguna, you can do loads of fun stuff!
The Philippines is best known for its beautiful beaches and the diving experience. We will be providing optional post-tournament discounted packages should you be interested to explore the Philippines. To places like the white sand beaches of Boracay, spelunking and free diving in Palawan, swimming with whale sharks, the center of marine biodiversity that is Puerto Galera, or the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, we are certain that we can provide you with cheap deals since we are currently coordinating with the Department of Tourism of the Philippines.
10. Easy and convenient debate locations
All classrooms that will be used are just inside a closed campus with a maximum of a 3-minute walk in terms of distance. DLSU will be perfect venue to maximize your prep time! All debate participants will have unlimited access to De La Salle’s computer facilities. Wifi zones could be found all through out the campus as well!
11. Bringing the Worlds back to the Philippines and Asia
Despite being one of the most active debating communities of the world, the last time the Philippines hosted WUDC was in 1998-1999 (more than 13 years ago by 2012). We feel that it’s high time for the Worlds to be taken back to Manila as it was evident that the last Manila worlds really improved the quality of debating of the entire Asian region.
Worlds has been constantly inaccessible to Asia for the last 3 years making Asian participation very minimal (Cork, Koc, Botswana). While the same can be said for other regions, Asia suffers more since Asian teams are generally more financially constrained compared to their counterparts. The number of Asian teams participating in worlds suffer tremendously when it is located farther from Asia.
We are interested to hear from everyone! Please don’t hesitate to contact the undersigned at dinorm58@yahoo.com. J
We are committed to giving you an excellent tournament that only Manila can offer. Please vote for De La Salle University in Council this coming WUDC in Antalya Turkey.
For De La Salle Worlds 2011-2012,
Dino de Leon
Convenor, De La Salle Worlds
Vice Chair, United Asian Debate Union
