REPRESENTATIVES OF Muslim students, women, and scholars outlined their needs and concerns during the first public hearing on sectoral representation conducted by the Sanggunian Central Assembly’s Committee on Socio-Political Engagement (CSPE) on February 1.

The public hearing is in accordance with Resolution No. 1 s. of 2016-2017, also known as “A Resolution to Conduct Public Hearings for Sectoral Representation in Aid of Legislation.” It was authored by CSPE Chairperson Benjamin Alvero III and School of Social Sciences Representative Christian Dy.

According to the resolution, CSPE will create a “comprehensive report” on the pressing needs and concerns of sectors based on the hearings. It will be submitted to the Ateneo Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to assist them in drafting the guidelines for sectoral representation.

In an interview with The GUIDON, Alvero said that while a lot of issues were tackled during the hearing, the attendance of sectors is still lacking.

“Sectors did show up, but unfortunately I don’t think we can boast that we are now in contact with as many sectors as possible. Regardless, the sectors present are nonetheless sectors in their own right,” he said.

“Sanggunian, COMELEC, as well as the political parties are now exploring avenues or solutions to these problems. I remain optimistic that we are on the right course though I do believe that we should have a sense of urgency when we’re doing this,” he added.

Also in attendance were COMELEC and the two accredited political parties: Ignatian Initiative for Transformative Empowerment (IgnITE) Movement and the Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) Ateneo de Manila.

Alvero mentioned that the CSPE is now dedicated to internal concerns of the student body, particularly sectoral representation, due to the internal reorganization and reconfiguration of tasks within the Sanggunian.

Earlier, Alvero had released a memorandum calling out the formation of Task Force SIKHAY. The task force is now in charge of student mobilizations.

Muslim representation

USAD Premier Lanz Espacio read the speech prepared by Datu Amir Wagas (3 BS LM), a volunteer head at the SALAAM (Social Action, Learning, and Advocacy for Atenean Muslims) Movement.

“We need to make a disclaimer that as of the moment we don’t speak for the entire Muslim population of the Loyola Schools. However, we are proud to say that as far as we know, our student movement, SALAAM, is the first group which gathered Muslim students together in the pursuit of the common goal,” the statement read.

According to Wagas, SALAAM is founded on the principles of Islamic social responsibility and interreligious dialogue. There are eight Muslim students in the movement as of press time.

Moreover, the organization is currently lobbying to be established as a recognized student movement under the Office of Campus Ministry (OCM). But one of the immediate problems the organization is facing deals with the absence of an ecumenical or interreligious prayer room.

Dy said that the ecumenical prayer room is already “in the pipeline,” after discussing it with the Office of Student Activities. He added that the Sanggunian will be communicating with the OCM soon.

Similarly, Alvero said, “The Sanggunian, CSPE, and other units can take part and assist in the coordination between SALAAM and the LS administration.”

“I believe that the synergy between the student government and our movement may be essential, if we are to be more engaged in social work outside the campus,” Wagas said.

“A Muslim representative can help the Sanggunian understand the needs of its Muslim constituents and maximize the protection and services that they offer to our sector,” he added.

Women in the Ateneo

Meanwhile, Katherine Culaba (4 AB DS) spoke on behalf of the women sector.

“First of all, I cannot say that I represent all the women in Ateneo because we are not organized, but I have asked around and the concerns are related to sexual harassment both by male professors and students,” she said.

Culaba said that some experiences are not reported because of being mistaken as friendly gestures. However, some cases filed have already been addressed.

“A general sentiment that we share is that Sanggunian can push for policies that can protect women from these cases [of sexual harassment]. Sana we can make more noise about it since this happens a lot and no one’s really talking about it,” she said.

Dy reassured that the Sanggunian is already in full throttle against sexual harassment cases. Dy, together with School of Humanities Representative Ferdy Acosta and School of Science and Engineering Representative Neicy Pilarca, released a memorandum on the processing of sexual harassment cases following a widely-reported incident involving students from the University of Santo Tomas.

Scholars                

On the other hand, Ateneo Gabay President Marimar Baticulon (4 BS ME) said that there are more than 1,500 scholars in Ateneo this academic year – those who receive academic, merit, financial aid, and athletic scholarships as well as those who have private benefactors.

Baticulon raised three issues that face scholars: academics, financial concerns, and discrimination.

“For academics, the main problem is to maintain grades. When they fail a subject, it’s not like they can just take it again. May cases na matatanggal scholarship mo, you’ll be in probation, or you’ll have to do additional service hours,” she said.

“There was one case recently. Ang nangyari, she failed kasi mali ‘yung professor niya sa computation ng grade. So nagpa-appeal siya for change of grades pero natanggalan pa rin siya ng scholarship. How can we lobby for that? (There was one case recently. What happened was, she failed because of the professor’s miscalculation of grade. So she appealed for change of grades but she still lost her scholarship. How can we lobby for that?),” she said.

In the case of financial concerns, some scholars who are working part-time in the Loyola Schools (LS) offices feel that Php 50 per hour is not a sufficient compensation. Moreover, Baticulon said that partial scholars are the ones gravely affected every time there is a tuition increase.

“For discrimination, the main issue with this is hindi ko alam kung aware ba talaga ‘yung Ateneo community about it na there are times na nadi-discriminate ‘yung scholars or not,” she said.

Baticulon finds sectoral representation important because their organization is limited when it comes to reaching LS offices and providing emergency financial aid to fellow scholars.

Next steps

Alvero said that the public hearings are set every Wednesday to give sectors, COMELEC, and the political parties ample time to prepare documents and presentations. The second public hearing will be on February 8.

“As CSPE Head, I have to reiterate that what we’re doing right now can only be so much. In the end, we really need sectoral representation and [the guidelines] will come from COMELEC. The purpose of these hearings is to really help COMELEC by hearing out sectoral concerns as well as hearing out their opinions on how sectoral representation should be conducted,” he said. “In the end, the hope is that these sectors will no longer have to go to the CSPE or other Sanggunian units. The hope is that these sectors can lobby on their own as recognized representatives of the Sanggunian.”