Pinay prof wins world speech tilt

24 September 2007

LEGAZPI CITY—A state university professor from Bicol bagged the championship in a world speech competition held on Sept. 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana, besting participants from 26 other countries including Australia and the United States.

Dr. Ramona Bustamante-Rañeses, a 58-year-old speech and theater arts teacher at Bicol University and a native of Oas, Albay, said she was very happy to have earned the honor for her country, region and hometown.

Rañeses recalled how the seven members of her delegation rejoiced when the Philippines was proclaimed the champion, followed by Australia, with the United States placing third.

The contestants, presented with the topic, “Your life, your responsibility,” were asked to give a seven-minute speech using any strategy.

The speech contest was one of the highlights of the 37th World Convention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the oldest continuing nonsectarian women’s organization in the world which takes a strong stance against the influence of alcohol on families and society.

Rañeses, in her speech, said: “We have to be agents of change to bring out a beautiful world for mankind and we can do this by bringing forth to the world children who are healthy, vibrant, active, intelligent and beautiful. This can be done by avoiding involvement with smoking, alcoholism and drugs (SAD).”

She also cited the occurrence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or permanent birth defects in the offspring of women who drank alcohol while pregnant.

Rañeses said she started preparing for the competition a year ago when she was informed that she would represent the country.

She made 10 revisions of her draft until she was happy with her final manuscript.

“After discussing the ills of SAD, I ended my speech with a resolution like, ‘I resolve to give more time to my children... to pay attention to the needs of my children... to be always around whenever my children need my help,’” she said.

Rañeses said winning the competition wasn’t easy.

“Speech contests are difficult to win, especially if they are held in western countries and the native tongue of the other contestants is English,” she said.

Rañeses, a speech and theater arts teacher for 37 years and a mother of nine children, holds a doctorate degree in English from the University of Santo Tomas and is currently a senior law student at Arellano University. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon