THE SCIENCE and Education Complex (SEC) field was sprinkled with green, yellow, and orange booths on February 8 to 10 for the first Sanggunian Political Fair.
Sanggu hoped that the fair could make the whole Ateneo community more aware of the presidential candidates running in the May elections.
“[We wish] to equip the community by giving the information needed [for better decision-making in voting],” said Sanggu Project Head and Director for External Affairs Jay Wijesekara.
Sanggu Secretary General Kacci Morales said that the political fair is a direct way of politicizing the Ateneo. “There is already a third party doing the campaign,” she said in Filipino.
Although Wijesekara believes that some students are still indifferent to the elections, the number of students, faculty, and maintenance, who showed up at the booths was a good sign. Some even wore the color of the party they were supporting.
Select. Several big name candidates set-up their own booths to give information to Atenean voters. | Photo by Ean L. Dacay
“There were [also] a lot of youth volunteers from Ateneo and outside the Ateneo community,” he said. “[This is a sign of] making a difference in everyone.”
Representatives from the Gibo Teodoro, Nicanor Perlas, Manny Villar, Dick Gordon, and Noynoy Aquino camps were present.
Response of booth officers
Booth officer for Teodoro and volunteer Nico Teodoro said that his camp gathered over 20 registration forms of those wanting to help for the campaign.
He was also happy to see several students wearing green, in support of his candidate. “It was a great opportunity to get volunteers, to inform everyone about the platform of Teodoro, and to know people from other camps,” he added.
Miguel Ortilla, student-volunteer and member of Movement for Better Values of Manny Villar, prided over soliciting pledges from over 500 people to volunteer for the presidential bet.
“[The party is] strong to the C, D, E (markets) [and are trying to expand to] A, B,” he said. The fair had a good venue where all levels were represented, according to Ortilla.
Booth officer for Aquino, Aleck Tolentino said, “We had a great impact [on the Ateneans], because our materials were good sources of information.”
Despite their one-day residency in the fair, Executive Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator for Dick Gordon Gaea Anonas said that there was also a good turnout of people dropping by their booth.
For Lorian Mansueto of Perlas’ camp, his booth made an impact on the students by trying to answer the students’ queries about his candidate and giving out campaign paraphernalia.
Race among camps
Wijesekara said that the organizers of the political fair were able to pique the interest of the different camps by telling them that there would be mock presidential elections in Ateneo.
He also explained that all parties were invited to promote their candidates. “It was hard to contact the parties because they brush off calls and callers,” he added.
One party even sent a complaint to them saying that they were not invited to the fair, said Wijesekara, withholding the name of the party. He added that they tried to contact the complaining group several times but received no reponse.
There were no specific programs imposed on the booths. Sanggu wanted each booth to have the freedom to promote their respective candidates.
On February 9, members of The Assembly rounded up in front of SEC field for a surprise rally. They carried placards which had social issues written all over them.
The members were questioning the platforms of the different candidates saying that they do not account for certain issues like land reform and the Maguindanao massacre.
Nicanor Perlas, who visited that day, witnessed the rally. His booth officer Kim Tiangco said that they took note of the concerns presented by the students and might publish an article in response to these concerns.
