THE INTEGRATED Non-Academic Formation (INAF) Program on December 8 was supposed to help students generate insights from activities outside the confines of the classroom.

But by the end of the program, most students, particularly the seniors, had one common insight: they were deceived into attending INAF day.

An official memo stated that INAF was about the freshmen’s Introduction to the Ateneo Culture and Tradition, the sophomores’ National Student Training Program, the juniors’ Junior Engagement Program (JEEP) and the seniors’ Pabaon.

According to Sanggunian Secretary-General Kacci Morales, Sanggu asked for 15 minutes from each of the programs to promote Blue Vote. She said it was a practical avenue to promote the project.

INAF day, which has been running for two years now, is part of a program organized by the Office of Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI). The program entails the cancellation of regular classes to pave way for non-academic activities.

However, some programs, like Pabaon, became a two-hour promotion for Blue Vote.

“Hindi talaga namin alam na buong oras kami [magsasalita] (We really didn’t know that we would be speaking the whole time),” said Sanggu President Gio Tingson. “The seniors didn’t deserve that kind of program.”

Blue Vote is a Sanggu project that consists of mock elections to prepare students for the national elections, which would be held in 2010.

Deceived as well
“I got a lot of text [messages] from my batchmates…regarding it [INAF] na parang lumabas tuloy na (which made it seem) Sanggu deceived the students because what was promoted [was] a Sanggu event,” Morales said.

Senior Gabe Baleos’ Facebook page contained a note saying he talked to OSCI about INAF day. According to the note, a person from OSCI confirmed that Sanggu was supposed to promote for 15 minutes only. The person also added: “We are here just to give them [Sanggu] support.”

Baleos’ quotes were not verbatim but those were the replies he received from the OSCI administrators.

Morales said that Sanggu did not expect this to happen.

“We did not receive any information as to what the details were,” Morales said. “We [the Sanggunian members] were deceived, as well,” she added.

However, The Assembly President Ross Tugade, a senior, said she was disappointed in the Sanggu for promoting Blue Vote at an event such as INAF because in a sense, it boxed the students into a certain kind of thinking.

For Tugade, INAF day was “cheap advertising” that violated her sensibilities. “[I went] wanting to immerse myself in a program na sa tingin ko makakatulong sa ‘kin (which I think would help me)…then I see Sanggu…shoving down a certain idea into our throats,” she said.

‘Nakakaliit ng loob’
Students from other year levels were also disgruntled by what happened during the INAF day. Junior Leiron Martija, who resides in Cavite, had to drive all the way to Quezon City because he knew that he was supposed to attend a required JEEP orientation.

“Parang inuunahan nila ‘yung mga estudyante. Parang ‘alam na namin na di kayo pupunta (It’s like they’re getting ahead of the students, like ‘we know you’re not attending),” he said.

“[They] had to devise such trickery, look so lowly on [one’s] intelligence, on [one’s] moral upbringing, and come up with this thing just to get [one] to go…Nakakaliit ng loob (it’s insulting),” he added.

Miscommunication
For Martija, Sanggu could have used the authority it had to protect the students’ rights and to find out what was going on.

“We elected them for a reason and it’s because we deem them able and responsible to carry our rights. Kung hindi pa Sanggu ang gagawa, sino pa? (If Sanggu doesn’t do it, who will?)” he added.

Morales said the Sanggu has dialogued with OSCI, Office of Student Activities Director Chris Castillo, and the Associate Dean of Student Affairs Rene San Andres.

“On our part, it was a mistake not to know the details of [the INAF day],” said Tingson, attributing the confusion to miscommunication. He added that the OSCI also accepted that there was a problem explaining the praxis program.

Sanggu Finance Officer Rob Roque also clarified that INAF day was not really part of the program. “Last year there was Australs so we decided to have INAF day,” he said. Since the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines declared December 8 as a non-holiday, another INAF day was scheduled.

According to Central Board Representative Gio Alejo (I BS HSc), there were no problems with the freshmen’s and sophomore’s programs.

The GUIDON tried to reach OSCI, but as of press time, no one was available for an interview.