Debate Competition

Competition Mechanics and Guidelines

Committee Chairman: Ms. Hannah Adellit B. Rodriguez

A.
1. Contestants must be bona fide students of the Department they represent.
2. The Department shall only have 1 team with 3 members.
3. If the team had won on the previous UB DAYS – Debate Competition, only 1 member can join
again.
4. The contestants must wear corporate attires with their ID during the contest.

B.
1. Speeches should be five minutes in duration. Speakers who exceed to the allocated time will be
deducted 1 point per minute.
2. The debate shall use the English language.
3. A bell is rung once to signal the start of the speech and is rung twice to indicate the end of the
five minutes.
4. The judges are addressed as adjudicator. Likewise, in the delivery of the speech, the speaker
must also recognize the adjudicators and others speakers.
5. Points of Information (POI) may only be offered after the expiration of one minute and may not
be given after the expiration of four minutes. Points of information may only be given to
opposing speakers and should generally be not more than 15 seconds in duration. The
adjudicator may request the speaker to end a point of information at his/her discretion.
Acceptance of points of information is at the discretion of the speaker holding the floor.
6. Points of order concerning the procedure of the debate must be addressed to the chair. These
can be brought at any time and take priority over all other speeches.
7. Speakers must observe proper behavior in the conduct of the debate. Any acts of misbehavior
such as making faces, bad language, intimidation, pointing fingers and such may cause
disqualification.
8. The bringing of props such as gadgets, big books, newspapers are not permitted.
9. No amendment to the motion is permitted. The speakers must debate the motions as given and
must be interpreted with the best as they can.
C.

1. The speakers are evenly divided on both sides of the motion. Speakers for the motion are the
Government and the speakers against are the Opposition.
Government Opposition
Prime Minister – opens the debate, define or Leader of the Opposition
interpret the motion presents the arguments
Deputy Prime Minister – refute at first Deputy Leader of the Opposition
instance the case of the opposition,
reestablish the Government’s claim, and
advances the arguments
Government Whip – make an issue-based Opposition Whip
rebuttal of the Opposition’s case and
summarizes the case of the Government