Ateneo Debate Society stamped its class all over the competition as they ran away with the lion’s share of the accolades in the just concluded Philippine Inter-collegiate Debate Championship held at UP Diliman. Kip Oebanda, Pauline Gairanod and Shiveena Parmanand (ADMU C) won the championship after beating the trio of Mico Biscocho, Gica Mangahas and Steph Co (ADMU A). ADMU B – Vinny Tagle, Ely Zosa and Danni de Castro — were eliminated by the eventual champions in the hotly contested semifinals. The only non-Ateneo team in the semifinals UP Diliman A (Tet Grajo, Claire Jiao and Jowee Atienza) also lost the penultimate matchup against ADMU A.
The seven-man panel ruled in favor of Ateneo C after reaching a 5-2 split. Sir Martin Cortez of UP Diliman chaired the round debating on the motion This house believes that the mass emigration of Filipinos has erorded Filipino nationalism. Kip Oebanda was adjudged Best Speaker
Seven of the ten top speakers of the tournament came from Ateneo. The other three were from UP Diliman.
Top Ten Speakers
| Rank | Debater | Team | Points |
| 1 | Jiao,Claire | UPD A | 540 |
| 2 | Biscocho, Mico | ADMU A | 539.5 |
| 3 | Zosa, Ely | ADMU B | 537.5 |
| 4 | Oebanda, Kip | ADMU C | 537 |
| 4 | Co, Steph | ADMU A | 537 |
| 4 | Mangahas, Gica | ADMU A | 537 |
| 7 | Grajo, Tet | UPD A | 536.5 |
| 8 | Tagle, Vinny | ADMU B | 535.5 |
| 9 | Atienza, Jowee | UPD A | 535 |
| 10 | de Castro, Danni | ADMU B | 533.5 |
Ateneo de Manila sent five teams to the tournament and four teams were able to break into the final 16. Even more impressive, all four teams broke in the top 6 (91st percentile). UP Diliman set the bar for having the most breaking teams for PIDC 2008. Of the six teams from Diliman, five broke. De Lasalle University and UP Manila had two breaking teams each. Three other institutions had at least one of their teams advance to the knockout phase – Ateneo de Zamboanga, San Beda College and Siliman University.
The Break List
| Rank | Team | Wins | Speaker Points |
| 1 | ADMU A | 7 | 1880.5 |
| 2 | ADMU B | 6 | 1872 |
| 3 | ADMU C | 6 | 1865 |
| 4 | DLSU A | 6 | 1849 |
| 5 | UPD A | 5 | 1881.5 |
| 6 | ADMU D | 5 | 1854 |
| 7 | UPD B | 5 | 1852.5 |
| 8 | UPD C | 5 | 1844 |
| 9 | UPM B | 5 | 1844 |
| 10 | SBC A | 5 | 1835.5 |
| 11 | DLSU B | 5 | 1835.5 |
| 12 | UPD D | 5 | 1824.5 |
| 13 | UPD F | 5 | 1823.5 |
| 14 | SU A | 4 | 1848.4 |
| 15 | UPM A | 4 | 1837 |
| 16 | ADDU A | 4 | 1835.5 |
The teams who missed the break rounds by the skin of their teeth include Siliman B, Xavier A, UP Diliman E, Lyceum A and UST A.
Octofinals
After the first eight rounds of the break, only two schools remained standing. Four UP Diliman teams advanced mirroring the four Ateneo teams who also took care of their round 1 assignments.
Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals saw two Ateneo teams beating two UPD teams. UPD A advanced after beating another team from Diliman (UPD F) while ADMU C broke to the semis after besting ADMU D.
Semifinals
ADMU A def. UPD A, ADMU C def. ADMU B
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Note: Ateneo C had to beat three teams from Ateneo to win the championship – Ateneo D in the quarters, Ateneo B in the semis and Ateneo A in the finals.
I wonder why Pauline Gairanod and Shiveena didn’t make it to the top ten? humhum… Adjs Adjs Adjs humhum… Beautiful vengeance od the unfulfilled alma mater and the unfulfilled vengeance on a champion sister.hehehe
is it true na team mates again for asians si shiveena at pauline? if ever galing naman parang kapalit ng charrisse and sharmila team. i only saw shiveena once pero i saw pauline twice sa ndc tapos panalo na pala sa pidc sila.si pauline malupit daw yun sa round pero mabait talaga pagtapos. hehe. single pa ba yun? kudos ateneo!