About the Event
The Annual UP Pi Sigma Fraternity Open Debate Tournament is the flagship project of the Pi Sigma Fraternity University of the Philippines Diliman Chapter. Held every year since 1988 at UP Diliman with college students as participants, the debate tournament is aimed to promote awareness and critical thinking on various issues that have affected Philippine society. It is also arguably the longest running open debate tournament in Southeast Asia.
About Pi Sigma
The Pi Sigma Fraternity is a socio-political organization founded at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in 1972. Espousing its twin principles of Paglingkuran ang Sambayanan and Paragon of Scholarship, the fraternity has consistently strived to organize projects that are in line with these principles. One of these projects is the Annual UP Pi Sigma Fraternity Open Debate Tournament.
History
Inaugurated in 1988, the Annual UP Pi Sigma Fraternity Debate Tournament is the brainchild of Sigmans Atty. Dan P. Calica and Atty. Crisostomo A. Uribe who have recognized the need for an event that will encapsulate the fraternity’s twin principles and promote awareness on pressing issues in Philippine society. Cognizant to the fact that there is no one true and absolute perspective on these issues, the brods have formulated the idea to organize a debate, where various issues can be thoroughly discussed and where viewers are are evoked to think critically on the opposing views of these matters.
The debate tournament follows the modified Oregon-Oxford format with topics always centered on pressing issues in Philippine Society. Various UP organizations have joined the debate tournament until the year 2011, when the tournament started accepting participants from other universities in Metro Manila.
Now on its 29th instalment, the Annual UP Pi Sigma Fraternity Open Debate Tournament aims to shed light on the pressing issues faced by the country and encourage critical thinking on these issues through discourse on the opposing perspectives of such matters.