COL holds friendly debate with Ateneo De Davao University beamed live in Davao via Smart Communications

To mark its 70th Founding Anniversary, the College of Law (COL) sponsored a friendly debate with the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) College of Law on March 1, 2007 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Theodore Buttenbruch Hall.

Arguing before a packed crowd, the debaters expounded on the proposition, “Resolved, That Foreigners Be Allowed to Own Lands in the Philippines”, with ADDU debaters on the affirmative side and USC on the negative side. The debate, conducted in Modified Oregon-Oxford format, was beamed live at the Audio-Visual Room of ADDU through the facilities of Smart Communications, Inc., one of the event’s major sponsors.
The debating team from ADDU was composed of Natasha Go (Ll.B II), Jessa Wong (Ll.B II), Flora Mae Cabacungan (Ll.B III) and Jalika Mae Rosello (Ll.B III), with Atty. Israelito P. Torreon as team coach. USC COL debaters were Christine Ruflo (LLB I), Carl Sasuman (Ll.B I), Pauline Demano (Ll.B II) and Manuel Roleda (Ll.B II), with Atty. Daryl Bretch M. Largo as team coach. ADDU argued on the necessity to adopt the proposition given the country’s enormous land resources that have remained undeveloped or underdeveloped. They argued further that allowing foreigners to own land in the Philippines would translate to more foreign direct investments which would mean more jobs for the Filipinos.

USC, on the other hand, contended that it was not necessary to adopt the proposition because there was no direct causal link showing that allowing foreigners to own lands in the Philippines would translate to foreign direct investments; that the reason why there is less FDI was not because of a protectionist policy but because of graft and corruption as well as an unstable political climate; that adopting the policy will be prejudicial to national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security and that the proposition was in fact culturally unpopular and iwa not workable given that ours is a land-based economy.

The debate was the third among the invitational debates held between the two schools. The first was held in Cebu City in 2003 and the second in Davao City in 2005.