UP through the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Law (LAW) emerged as the overall winner at the 16th Price Media Law Moot Court Competition.
The LAW team is composed of Trishia Gail G. Fernandez (team captain), Bryan Thomas D. Santamaria (assisting team captain), Jasmin Althea A. Siscar, Esabelle Gillian G. Catameo, Ma. Beynouna Meg T. Arbo, and Celine Mae D. Dael. Their coach was Michael Tiu Jr., an assistant professor at LAW, the head of the International Criminal Law Program of the Institute of International Legal Studies of LAW, and the head of the UPD Law Center Information and Publication Division. Meanwhile, Rommel Casis, an associate professor at LAW and the director of the Institute of International Legal Studies of LAW, was their faculty adviser.
Apart from the top prize, LAW through Santamaria also won as best oralist in the final rounds. Santamaria tied with Caitlin Farell of the City, University of London.
Much like last year, this year’s competition had teams participating online from across the globe.
“After finishing as a semi-finalist in the Asia-Pacific Regional Rounds, the team represented the Asia-Pacific Region in the international rounds. The team garnered an impressive winning streak, dominating all three preliminary rounds in the Internationals. The team faced the City, University of London during the final rounds and emerged as champions after securing a unanimous vote from the judges. The team secured LAW’s third championship title in this competition,” Fernandez said in an email to UPDate Online.
LAW also took the overall win in 2015 and 2019.
This year’s LAW team bested the other 28 teams that qualified for the international rounds of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition (Price Moot). For this year (2022-2023), 85 teams registered their participation across seven regions (Africa, Central Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Northern Europe, Americas, and the Middle East).
According to Fernandez, the Price Moot “challenges students to engage in comparative research of legal standards at the national, regional, and international levels, and to develop their arguments on cutting-edge questions in media and ICT [information and communication technology] law.”
The Price Moot is an annual international moot court competition of the University of Oxford. Created and first organized by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, it is now organized by the Bonavera Institute of Human Rights of the University of Oxford.