Activists in Right Wing Territory (The NDC in PMA)

The quiet in this blog last week is attributed to my attendance in the 9th National Debating Championships hosted by the Philippine Military Academy at its sprawling campus inside Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City. The tournament was my 5th NDC, my 10th major national tournament (that’s 5 NDCs + 4 IIDCs + 1 PIDC), my 15th major debating tournament (10 national + 5 international: 1 All-Asians, 2 Asian Univs, 2 Worlds), and roughly my 25th time to participate in a collegiate debating event (includes all major and minor tournaments here and abroad); hence, it was an anniversary of sorts for me. At the same time, it was my 1st time to join as a competitive adjudicator (I’ve been judging debates for a whole year now… that’s what old debaters – dinosaurs as we call them — do when they retire from debating… but last year I was part of the Adj Core of the NDC and PIDC so I wasn’t actually representing our debate varsity in UP Manila), my first time to take an adj exam for a national tournament (which was weird and funny since in the previous year, I was checking papers and rating judges) and my first time to be subjected to the competitive adj rating scheme. All in all therefore, it was both a tournament of repeats and of firsts; definitely one for the books.

PMA’s Debate Corps was new and there was apprehension weeks before the tournament that they’d be running a tournament that was amateur at best. And especially when the Org Comm started signalling that simple freedoms such as being able to wear flip-flops to the rounds or being fashionably late (as most debaters usually are) were going to be curtailed or at least controlled, the concern that PMA wasn’t getting collegiate debating culture floated. It didn’t help that as they communicated (barely) with the participants via the debate_philippines mailing list, the cadets would usually say that they weren’t used to transparency in dealing with organizational matters (hence their the silence). Was the NDC — the ultimate forum for critical analysis of issues and policies — really going to be held in the Philippines’ breeding ground for right-wing generals? (There was even an internal joke among us in UP Manila, that our goal in the tournament was not only to top the tabs, but also to look for where the military was hiding Jonas Burgos).

Truth is, I haven’t seen student activism as appropriate and balanced as in the debating community. People in this group are knowledgeable about current issues (yes, not just events, but the issues behind them), can argue for or against any policy, and are able to derive the repercussions or implications of any action (you’d be amazed at how weird the conclusions get when the imagination of debaters are stretched to the fullest). When I was actively debating, I conscientiously sought out news articles from the daily paper, subscribed to our favorite reading material, The Economist, and even preferred watching documentaries over The OC reruns (well, not all the time). Student activism is all about keeping oneself relevant to the times as a student, looking at the bigger picture, and not merely being boxed inside the limited problems of a collegiate existence. Given that, I daresay that debaters understand more the importance of this sort of lifestyle than the average red-shirt tibak, and I daresay that these people know a lot more about governance than the average student council member. The best student activists are indeed debaters.

PMA’s military efficiency in handling the tournament paid off; the 9th NDC turned out to be one of the best. Logistics were snappy all the way. What I admired the most however was the accommodation that was extended to all the participants (and more importantly, to their civilian nature) once the tournament started (for one, we were greeted on campus by a brass band). At one point, the Org Comm offered to scrap the social events that they prepared for, because at first these extra-debate events didn’t seem appealing to the participants — this accommodating reaction to the pagiinarte of the debaters was somehow unexpected. They could have easily required us to go and also check our attendance as they do with their cadets every time (eventually, everyone warmed up to the socials – I thoroughly enjoyed the Boodle Fight). It was also nice to see military top brass watching the debates about whether Armed Forces people should be allowed to publicly criticize the government. I heard that there were even cadets who debated in the affirmative for this proposal and won. The same AFP captains and colonels were also very interested in the procedures during the Council Meeting. They were very vocal about supporting the independent efforts of students in creating a democratic forum such as the Philippine Debate Union. The Finals motion was debated in the presence of the Academy’s superintendent, and it was about the anti-terror law and activism against the Arroyo regime. All this, PMA allowed, lauded, and encouraged; I appreciate their accommodation and their openness.

It’s very difficult to change political mindsets. I admit to being enamored to the efficiency of the cadets, their discipline and their routines (ie, they have to hang their towels on the left shoulder when going to take a bath, they have to finish one viand at a time when eating, etc), gosh, I envy their uniforms! And while this doesn’t change my center-left perspective, it would be hypocritical for me to say that I didn’t enjoy staying in right-wing territory for a week. Allow me one last shot though: PMA cadets even have uniforms designated for studying. If instead the funds went to PGH, I’d be much happier.