DAVAO CITY – A tribal engineering student here romped away with top honors at the overseas category of the 2020 C Asean Youth Speech Contest held recently online.
Rex Michael Ugpay, a third year Chemical Engineering student of the Mapua-ran Malayan Colleges Mindanao, won for his seven-minute thoughts on the theme “Asean as One is Asean Way”.
The 2020 C. Asean Youth Speech Contest was hosted by Thailand and held August 7 via online meet.
The MCM said Ugpay was among 93 applications from 10-member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and was selected to compose the 10 finalists.
Due to travel restrictions, the C Asean competitions separated the award into two categories: one for overseas finalists and the other for Thai residents, the school said.
Five qualified for the overseas category: two from the Philippines, two from Indonesia, and one from Vietnam.
Ugpay described the awarding as suspenseful and tense.
“It was surreal. The night before, I really prayed that placing at least in the Top 3 will already make me comfortable and winning would be a very big bonus. When the host called my name as the 2nd runner up, I was quite hesitant to believe it; but when they flashed the picture of me as the eventual winner, I was very shocked. Then, there was a clarification that I was really the winner, then I outburst in tears of joy.”
Rex is a member of the Bagobo Klata tribe and told MCM authorities he “has always been looking for opportunities abroad to enhance his socialization and leadership skills”.
“So when he found out about the C Asean contest, he did not hesitate to join,” the MCM said.
“I’ve been wanting to create milestones in my life, and it was always in my thoughts while in college to achieve something in my age, a feat wherein I can feel that I’m capable of doing something.”
On their initial video entries, the participants were asked to share their thoughts on the meaning of “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”, which is the Asean motto.
For the finals, Ugpay said preparations consisted of watching short practice videos and reading additional online articles about the Asean “to be able to properly construct a speech surrounding the final theme ‘Asean as One is Asean Way’.”
His speech was revised to a length of 7 minutes of which he memorized and recorded himself.
“The results were announced immediately after the event, and Ugpay, upon finding out that he had won, found himself crying with tears of joy,” said an MCM writeup on his feat written by Frances Angela Monton.
The MCM said the C Asean “is a social enterprise aiming to strengthen regional connectivity among the Asean and this year’s edition was held to celebrate the 53rd Asean Day. The participants’ speeches were screened and selected by a panel of judges and international diplomats.