FROM TWO departments, the Sanggunian expanded to include five more. Sanggunian Secretary-General Maan Delos Santos said that these departments were made to “ensure more efficient representation, services, and student movement integration.”
Joining the Department of Student Welfare and Services and the Department for Student Leadership Development in the Sanggunian structure are the following: Department of Communication (DC), Department of Corporate Relations (DCR), Department of External Affairs (DEA), Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), and Department of Research and Statistics (DRS).
Knowing the departments
DC Chairperson Carlo Chong said that his department’s role is to focus on branding, promotions, public relations, and everything communication-related.
“We are trying to bridge the gap between the Sanggunian as the student government and the general student population,” he said.
Gemmo Fernandez is the chairperson of DCR, whose role is to “take charge of the marketing or sponsorship needs for all the large projects of the Sanggunian, while also overseeing and assisting in the marketing procedures of the School Boards and Departments.”
DEA Chairperson Ian Agatep said that his department, meanwhile, takes charge of collaborations with organizations outside of Ateneo. “For example, we need to work with the student councils of La Salle, UP, UST. They talk to us first, and that’s when we course it to the Sanggunian or the Central Board.”
According to DIA Chairperson Chica Villarta, her department focuses on human resources and on project management. “[We make] sure that Sanggunian members are well taken care of…they not only help in the formation of the whole Loyola schools and the student body, but they themselves are also formed.”
She added that they “want to establish an effective project management system, conceptualization, monitoring implementation and evaluation of projects.”
Lastly, DRS works on the needed numbers and figures by the Sanggunian.
DRS Chairperson Kevin Yu said, “My department is in charge of collecting the data depending on what the Sanggunian needs at the time. It can be data regarding what the students think of the new policies being implemented in school but there’s a consultation quota of at least 25 % of the population that has to be met before the actual project can be implemented.”
Appointed by strengths
According to Agatep, Sanggunian President Rob Roque was responsible for the conceptualization of the new departments.
“He then appointed all of the departments’ chairpersons [based] on certain characteristics seen. Technically they were basing it on what the students were able to do [or their specialties],” said Agatep.
Aside from Roque, the Central Board, teachers, and Sanggunian members were consulted to know which people would be fit to assign to head the departments.
Facing difficulties
Chong described his position as challenging. According to him, heading a new department means starting from scratch. He had to form teams, recruit new members, create systems and procedures, and strategize how to go about the campaigns.
Other chairpersons also faced the same difficulties. Villarta said that they created her department’s systems during the time the new Sanggunian administration started working.
“[The] main [difficulties here] are how to balance the creation of the systems para maging stable siya (in order for it to be stable) and how to immediately accommodate the need of the entire Sanggunian.”
Meanwhile, Yu shared that their number one difficulty is recruitment.
“When people look into the name of my department, they become intimidated. It’s not something that everyone wants to be a part of. They think that it’s really difficult but really once you get to know the job well, it’s not really that hard,” he said.
But despite these difficulties, Chong said that the creation of the new departments is a leap forward for the student council. “It represents a big step in turning the Ateneo’s student government into something more than it has ever been in the past.”
*With reports from Klarisse P. Felix
