MANILA, Philippines - A team from De La Salle University (DLSU) was crowned champions of the English-as-second-language (ESL) category at the World Universities Debating Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Mikee De Vega and Jason Dizon of DLSU beat teams from the University of Indonesia, Seoul National University in Korea and RWTH Aachen University in Germany in a finals debate about the decline of the nation-state's power in an increasingly globalized world. De Vega and Dizon argued as closing opposition.

The last time a Filipino team won the category was in 2001, when the Ateneo de Manila University brought the trophy home at the tournament held in Glasgow.

In the open category, a team from Harvard University from the United States were declared champions, beating teams from Visoka škola PEP in Serbia, University of Sydney in Australia and Hart House - University of Toronto in Canada. The eventual world champions argued on a motion that the world's poor would be justified in pursuing complete Marxist revolution.

Held annually, WUDC is the world's biggest debate tournament, and the competition at the American Farm School of Thessaloniki drew over 1,000 debaters.

The last time the Philippines hosted the tournament was in 2012 at DLSU.