Defending champion Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) easily fended off Mindanao State University (MSU) - Marawi City on the motion that public officials are not entitled to bank secrecy.

ADMU, representing Government, asserted that public officials are not like ordinary citizens. They are accountable to the people, and in the interest of advancing public accountability, they should be subjected to higher standards.

Countering arguments from MSU-Marawi that the status quo already allowed for bank account scrutiny, albeit under certain conditions, ADMU pointed out that time is of the essence in cases concerning national interest like bribery scandals and bid rigging. Waiting for a court's order will give the official in question an opportunity to cover up the money trail.

MS-Marawi argued that one's individuality isn't lost when one becomes a public official, and these public officials should be able to avail of equal protection under the law.

However, instead of fleshing out this principle, MSU chose to harp on the fact that in the event a public official returns to being private citizen, he will be unable to regain the privacy that was lost to an unfair bank account examination; the damage, in terms of security risk, will have been done.
 
MSU further argued that the existing provisions in the law to look into these accounts are enough. Accountability can still be served without infringing on individual rights.

Chief Adjudicator Atty. Ricky de la Cruz said the challenge of the debate was balancing the interest of the 2 contending ideas: accountability and the privacy of an individual. And, in giving the win to ADMU, the judges had gone with the side that was more persuasive.

Another adjudicator, Lex Ledesma, said the Opposition put a big burden on themselves by defending the status quo. He suggested that MSU could have simply come up with an alternative proposal, like relaxing the requirements for a bank account to be scrutizined, to refute ADMU.

ADMU's viictory makes them the first semi-finalist of the touranment.
 
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