 of the UK, who was Chair of the Board of Judges. Photo credit: ESU Johanne Jazmin Tan-Jabines, a third year business administration and accountancy student of U.P. Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business, bested 50 other contestants from 49 different countries to win the English Speaking Union's International Public Speaking Competition (ESU IPSC) in London, England on 18 May 2018.
Entering the Royal Institution room with grace and a certain elan, Jabines delivered a speech titled “One Hour at a Time” about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and undocumented migrants. Organizing her speech around her one-hour meeting with her teacher-aunt in transit at the Manila airport for Bangkok, Thailand, she talked about re-inventing the relationships we build with our migrant family members and making the most out of them.
“Whether it’s the hours we spend on Skype calls, or the hours we spend with all our relatives back home for Christmas, or the hours we spend praying for those who are absent—every immigrant family invents its own unique way of sealing that distance and strengthening their love,” she said.
“We pick up the pieces they’ve left behind and invent a new kind of dream for ourselves and for them.”
A plus-point for Jabines was her ability to engage the British audience when she responded to three questions after her short speech.**
Jabines is the third Filipino to win the global public speaking competition. Patricia Evangelista won in 2004 while Gian Karlo Dapul duplicated the feat in 2008.
Earlier, Jabines won over 80 other participants in the February 2018 national search for the Philippine Representative to the ESU IPSC organized by ESU Philippines.
*Adapted from the article by Jhesset O. Enano (Philippine Daily Inquirer), 23 May 2018. Retrieved from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/993394/up-student-wins-worlds-largest-public-speaking-competition
**You may view the almost 2-hour competition at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/pinoy achievers/654202/up-student-bags-top-prize-in-london-speaking-contest-with-speech-on-overseas-pinoys/ story/ You may read Jabines’ speech at: https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/203028-philippine-diaspora-ofw-one-hour-at-a-time. You may read Chancellor Michael Tan’s May 25 Pinoy Kasi column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer at: http://opinion.inquirer.net/113441/speech-speech |
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