ASHS debaters Rivera and Magsalin among HS Grand Finalists of Diliman Debate Open

Two teams which each had an Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) debater as 1/2 of the composite pair were named High School Grand Finalists of the Diliman Debate Open 2025, an extremely competitive British parliamentary format debate that was hosted onsite in UP Diliman in January 2025. Leah Joy Rivera (12-Beyzym) and teammate broke 1st in the High School Category and 16th in the Open Category to emerge as High School Grand Finalists. Simultaneously, Chloe Magsalin (11-Hoyos) and her teammate also had an incredible run, breaking 2nd in the High School Category and ending as High School Grand Finalists.

Individually, three ASHS students were recognized among the Top Ten Best Speaker awardees. Leah Joy and Chloe were both named 3rd Best High School Speaker, while Jesu Manzano (11-Hurtado) was awarded 5th Best High School Speaker.

The Diliman Debate Open 2025 was hosted onsite at the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City on 18-19 January 2025. It was attended by over 100 debaters- including Asian and World Champion debaters- making the break highly difficult.