All of a sudden, it’s beginning to look a lot like the elections.
In the Ateneo alone, numerous campaigns are already being initiated by various student groups: there’s Blue Vote, Ateneo Task Force 2010, Reg2Vote, and the frequent lectures by various presidentiables, just to name a few.
Likewise, we see an influx of election-related events, issues and campaigns that we experience everyday in school and all the way to our email inboxes, which are laden with hundreds of emails about presidential forums, political surveys, and the like.
Consider, however, how the Sanggunian “encouraged” some of its officers who did not register for the elections to resign and step down from their positions. The magnitude and gravity of this decision angered and alarmed many Sanggunian officers who felt that the decree was far too unjust and abrupt.
The Assembly said the move was “totalitarian.” Simply, there was no place for the benefit of the doubt, that there may be sufficient reasons why some officers did not register. Nor was there was any forewarning about the consequences if they did not do so as they preached. The decision was made after the deadline for registration passed.
It does not seem equitable that people who were uninformed should suffer the consequences of miscommunication and reflex decision-making, even if this is all for “politicizing” the Ateneo and making it more involved for 2010. Is this a good way to promote the elections?
From this point on, it’s a battle between “walking the talk” and freedom that is essential to the spirit of suffrage. In all the efforts of the student body to hold awareness and involvement campaigns, there is always a choice.
Good intentions were kept in mind. All is well with pursuing the desire for social and political involvement, but it should be done without the sense of coercion mildly present in the Sanggu resolution. Along the path to political involvement, the student body is somehow forcibly shaped into a decision that defies the very concept of freedom in the first place.
As much as we are given the freedom to choose a desired candidate, we are all equally given the option to either register or not register. Regardless of our place or stature in the student populace, it will all boil down to what we ultimately decide to do. No one should be punished for exercising basic freedom.
