REACHING THE election quota isn’t the Ateneo Commission of Elections’ (Comlec) only problem. Transitioning from one set of commissioners to another, Sanggunian President Rob Roque said, is an issue as well.

“It’s weird that in the middle of the year, [The Sanggunian] communicates with a different set of people [from Comelec] for plans and projects,” said Roque.

As a result, an amendment has been proposed to the Comelec Commissioner to change the Comelec commissioners’ terms of office. If approved, a commissioners’ term will end in the second semester, instead of the first semester.

Comelec Chief Commissioner Jon Andre Vergara said that the proposition was already conceptualized last year together with the Sanggunian under former president Gio Tingson. However, the proposal didn’t make it into last year’s amendments because of the 2010 General Elections.

As of press time, the previous commissioners have agreed to the new transition process, while the current commissioners are still undecided.

Better transition, better communication

Improving communication between the Sanggunian and Comelec was a major reason for the proposed amendments. Vergara explains that a Sanggunian officer’s terms spans an entire school year, while a Comelec commissioner’s terms starts in the second semester and ends in the first semester of the succeeding year.

Roque added that practicality was also a factor in the amendments. By the first semester, Roque explained, students would already have existing commitments—potential commissioners, included.

Beltejar said that changing the Comelec term of duty would also give commissioners enough time to prepare over the summer break.

With the current set-up, a Commissioner’s first major duty is typically the General Elections, which covers the entire student body. According to Vergara, this is problematic because the General Elections become the testing ground for new commissioners.

“[The amendment will] enable them to gain experience in handling all election-related matters via the Freshmen & Special Elections with comparably less voters before they handle the much more complicated General Elections,” Beltejar explained.

Current commissioners

Since the finale fate of the proposed amendments has yet to be decided on, the current set of commissioners’ terms will end during the first semester of school year 2011-2012.

If approved though, the current set of commissioners will have to step down at the end of the school year and re-apply for the same position for the next school year.

Roque, however, said that in the constitution, the transition would mean that incumbent officers will not be allowed to apply for newly-created or revised positions. “[The provision] holds true for Sanggu; I am not sure though if it will apply to the Comelec,” said Roque.

He added that another proposal was for the current and new set of commissioners to overlap, or for the current commissioners to extend their term.

Beltejar said that further deliberation on the issue is needed. If the proposal is accepted, the final fate of the amendments lies in the hands of the student body, through a plebiscite.

What’s next?

Despite its current status, Beltejar thinks the proposition is sound.

As of press time, the proposal is being deliberated on the Sanggunian Central Board. Voting for the proposal will follow shortly after, said Roque.

“After the voting process, there is a need for a referendum of the student body to say to ‘yes’ to the amendment. We need 50% +1 of the student population to vote,” added Roque.

If the proposal is not approved, Vergara said that they hope to have it finalized and passed by next school year