THE IGNATIAN Initiative for Transformative Empowerment (IgnITE) Movement is set to take its place as one of the two premier political parties in the Ateneo.
During their relaunch on Jun 17, IgnITE presented a shift in their ideological alignment, adopting more-liberal democratic positions to their platform. This shift presented a break with its earlier “libertarian” orientation. IgnITE had earlier announced their platform in a Facebook post last June 6.
However, AVP for Social Affairs Ron Chiong said that despite the ideological shift, IgnITE’s focus will remain towards the decentralization of power in government and individual rights.
Building a platform
In an interview with The GUIDON, IgnITE President Ele Gealogo said that changes in the platform of IgnITE were the result of developments in school politics, such as the ratification of the 2016 Constitution.
“[The changes in our ideology were] really us identifying where else we can go, or what mistakes have we done in the past and how we can amend this,” said Gealogo.
Additionally, IgnITE released a list of Pledges, of which it hoped to uphold and commit to.
“Our new rehashed five Pledges [do not only talk about] Sanggu, since we’ve grown since [its inception]. We’ve grown a lot since being a party that merely fields candidates for Sanggu. We want to be outwards-looking din,” Gealogo said.
The five-point Pledges included a support for liberal democracy and universal access to education, among other things.
Advocacy and Formation
In the Relaunch, Gealogo said that his party would focus on three main planks: education, human rights, and mental health.
Gealogo said that IgnITE will continue to work hand-in-hand with Kariton Klasrum Katipunan in providing quality education in the Ateneo. He added that IgnITE will also be launching a Martial Law Education program with the hopes of enlightening the youth of the tragedies during the Marcos era.
According to VP for Internals Deih Bautista, these advocacies are in line with IgnITE’s formation programs in expanding beyond the Sanggunian.
“All of our initiatives are rooted in Ignation values…We, as a political party, make sure that every member here in IgnITE would gladly take on these projects fully aware of their capabilities and competencies,” Bautista said.
“These [projects serve as] avenues for people to continuously lead [outside of the Ateneo]. As a political party, [our membership] is not entirely limited to people who want to serve in the Sanggunian,” she added.
Two-party system established
Though IgnITE was only recently accredited as a political party on December 22, 2014, the group had already been active prior to that. The movement was originally organized by AJ Elicaño in 2011, where in they released a “Where We Stand” document around 2012 as a precursor to the present Five Pledges.
Since its accreditation, IgnITE has taken to objectives such as fiscal conservatism, joining the Open Government Partnership Philippines- Fiscal Reform Coalition, a “policy thinktank that aims to address fiscal policies and reforms across the country.”
IgnITE has also organized local initiatives for tax reform in the Ateneo, holding the “X Change: Tax Reform in the Philippines” forum in partnership with Tax Reform Philippines.
IgnITE is one of the two main parties in the Ateneo– the other being the Christian Union of Socialist and Democratic Advancement (CRUSADA), a broadly social democratic political party.
