Debatable Podcast

08/07/2025

Debate is a journey. Meet us halfway.

🧭 August 23-24, 2025
🥾 British Parliamentary
🗺️ Online (Zoom & Discord)
🌄 100 Team Cap, N=1
📍 650 PHP / 12 USD per person
🧳 750 PHP / 15 USD for ghost judge penalty

Send a message to learn more

20/05/2025

11/05/2025

Vote Wisely.



Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2w4DcmYGQHQiZjzrEhkAXM?si=NuGKEXD0RUalYokh_eUWkw

Youtube: https://youtu.be/XmDNeoKVFSg

21/04/2025

For this episode of Debatable, I sit down with Walden Bello: one of the most vocal critics of power dynamics and political issues in the Philippines and beyond. (Walden is also a wonderful singer as you can see in this clip.)

Catch the episode on Youtube, or any of your podcast streaming services!

Youtube: https://youtu.be/vyymq9tAwro
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/075m0TXHPY0eEY3wCFSvv8?si=bd-Ayi2fS82SsBueUaU_aA

And make sure to stop by and say hi at the Book Launch this April 26, and to get yourself a copy of the memoir!

—
GLOBAL BATTLEFIELDS BOOK LAUNCH:
🗓April 26, 2025 (Saturday)
🕑2:00–5:00 PM (Registration at 2:00 | Program starts at 2:30)
📍GT Toyota Asian Center Auditorium
📣LAUNCH SPECIAL: GET THE BOOK AT 15% OFF ONSITE
🖊RSVP preferred — especially for book orders: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5EWbVp0nOLkZkEaGF732r4g0W5M9xJGRspFOGI197cqGTKQ/viewform

📕 And if you can’t make it, you can get your copy here:
Website: https://waldenbello.org/globalbattlefields
Shopee: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsSHOP
Lazada: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsLAZ
Ateneo University Press: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/global-battlefields-my-close-encounters-dictatorship-capital-empire-and-love

16/04/2025

Special thanks to Walden Bello for letting me steal some of his time (and later on: ice cream) for an episode of Debatable!

We had a lovely conversation about his writing process, activism, his reflections on the past and the future, and his thoughts on the role we debaters play in all of it.

And it turns out Walden brings the battlefield energy to interviews, too. 😔✊

Episode drops Monday, April 21!

And after that, you can catch us both at his Book Launch on April 26, where I’ve been given full permission to ask all the gossipy, personal questions that only ice cream and wine managed to unlock. 🍦🍷

——

GLOBAL BATTLEFIELDS BOOK LAUNCH:
🗓April 26, 2025 (Saturday)
🕑2:00–5:00 PM (Registration at 2:00 | Program starts at 2:30)
📍GT Toyota Asian Center Auditorium
📣LAUNCH SPECIAL: GET THE BOOK AT 15% OFF ONSITE
🖊RSVP preferred — especially for book orders: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5EWbVp0nOLkZkEaGF732r4g0W5M9xJGRspFOGI197cqGTKQ/viewform

📕 And if you can’t make it, you can get your copy here:
Website: https://waldenbello.org/globalbattlefields
Shopee: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsSHOP
Lazada: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsLAZ
Ateneo University Press: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/global-battlefields-my-close-encounters-dictatorship-capital-empire-and-love

10/04/2025

For this short episode of Debatable, I talk a bit about the things I'm reading, why I make time to read despite my busy schedule, and how it has really helped shape the way I think.

Watch on Youtube, or on your preferred podcast hosting site!

One of the books is being read in preparation for an upcoming interview with Walden Bello! If you wanna ask questions, here is the link: bit.ly/questionsforwalden

And if you wanna join Debatable Open (which is why we have all been busy these past few weeks), you can register here: https://linktr.ee/debatableph

10/04/2025

A few days ago, the Ateneo University Press graciously sent me a copy of Walden Bello's memoir "Global Battlefields" to prepare for our upcoming interview with him!

I'm a few pages in, and have already encountered so many things I would like to ask him about. It has also inspired in me many musings and conversations with those around me who have had no choice but to listen to be rave about certain passages if they happen to have seated next to me.

Reading is, after all, an act of engaging in conversation (though Socrates might disagree). I am just fortunate that I get to have another one during the interview proper itself!

If there’s something you’d love to ask him for the interview on April 15, share it here and I'll ask it for you: bit.ly/questionsforwalden

🛍Get your copy here: https://waldenbello.org/globalbattlefields
Shopee: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsSHOP
Lazada: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsLAZ
Ateneo Press: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/global-battlefields-my-close-encounters-dictatorship-capital-empire-and-love

04/04/2025

Debatable has always believed in creating spaces for voices that challenge, deepen, and even complicate the way we think. That’s why we’re honored to be sitting down soon with Walden Bello to talk about his new memoir, Global Battlefields—a conversation we know will resonate with many of you!

There are many things we could highlight about Walden Bello. He is an activist, renowned academic, former member of the House of Representatives, and has had quite a colorful life as we will talk more about in the future. But what stands out is his passion to learn and discuss things that push the boundaries of what we are comfortable with.

Thea and I have had the chance to meet him ahead of the interview, and we ended up talking about you all in the debate community! We talked about how his own experiences parallel a lot of the struggles we face as a community that tries to balance activism with the emotions that come with it. He’s genuinely eager to hear your thoughts and answer your questions, and honestly, I was trying very hard not to ask all mine in advance.

If there’s something you’d love to ask him for the interview on April 15, share it here: bit.ly/questionsforwalden

We’d love for this to be a conversation shaped by the community it’s meant to reach.

🛍Get your copy here: https://waldenbello.org/globalbattlefields
Shopee: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsSHOP
Lazada: https://go.ateneo.net/GlobalBattlefieldsLAZ
Also available at the Ateneo Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall, Ateneo de Manila University

02/04/2025

New Episode is out!

In dedication to starting over, I am revisiting the first ever episode of Debatable, and giving it an update based on all the things I have learned since it was first released!

Prep Steps (Nina's Version), if you will.

Give it a watch or listen on our platforms:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/075m0TXHPY0eEY3wCFSvv8?si=m8bOFKaYRzOrkS5aa5Sagg

18/03/2025

For this episode of Debatable, we go visceral (literally and conceptually) with a discussion on flowcharting and pathfinding in debates!

A lot of thought and effort went into the creation of this episode, since it marks the beginning of a new lecture series in the podcast, as well as a new era of content for Debatable! We hope you enjoy it.

Give it a listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ldcg8SQJgjA4OsJ7fJ0k3?si=gw9I1gT1TZu6xqKY_6avDQ
OR
Give it a watch (though the Youtube video might show up a bit later): https://www.youtube.com//

10/05/2024

We are proud to present the last Post-Debate Analysis of our Debatable Open series! The Open Grand Finals of our event was all about different issues here in the Philippines. We would like to thank Gab Pacaño for their motions.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/48emwW3YUHDWdmEGIf1mwk?si=0fad750f898f482e

Motion 1: In 2017, Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed a proclamation formally designating the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) as a terrorist organization. This house regrets the designation of the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization.

Motion 2: This house believes that the characterization of the EDSA Revolution as peaceful does more harm than good.

Motion 3: “Friend to all, enemy to none" is the current independent foreign policy of the Philippines, which aims to forge alliances with several nation-states by remaining neutral in times of global conflict. This house believes that the Philippines should abandon “friend to all, enemy to none”

07/05/2024

For the Novice Finals and Open Semifinals of Debatable Open 2024, we talk to Jill Aycardo for the motion theme: RELIGION!

Listen to the episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3dgmDSiup5mn436fbTsmnr?si=34c57bf2c2b0428a

Motion 1: In religious scriptures, the cause for sins and suffering is usually sourced from the temptations and desires of individuals. Generally, these desires are propagated to be individualistic in nature and it is through the faith in god/s and subscription to dogmas and rituals that save an individual from sin and suffering. THP a world where religions framed suffering as a collective test from god rather than being sourced from individual desires

Motion 2: Papal infallibility is a dogma in the Catholic Church that presupposes that a Pope can speak no wrong when he propagates doctrines based on religious scripture and tradition. This dogma does not necessarily mean that the Pope cannot sin nor does it mean that it cannot be challenged by other practitioners of faith. Instead, the dogma is related to the story of Jesus entrusting St. Peter (the first Pope) with his church, and thus the doctrines of faith or morals issued by the Pope are in his capacity as his successor to St. Peter. Essentially, sourcing the idea of the pope being infallible due to God's trust to Peter and his successors. Examples of when papal infallibility used was when Mary’s immaculate conception of Jesus and her assumption to heaven was placed into dogma, and the ruling of the Catholic Church having to reserve priestly ordination to men alone. THBT the Catholic Church should abandon the dogma of papal infallibility

Motion 3: The face of god refers to the theory that god’s existence cannot be perceived, as their characteristic of being transcendent assumes that they are infinite and are inconceivable to the human mind. TH, as a religious believer, prefers not to perceive god