Discourse. Sanggunian President Drew Copuyoc speaks before a diverse crowd during last election’s miting de avance. He now finds himself, along with many others, in a heated debate about campus politics. Photo by Abram P. Barrameda

(Editor’s Note: In light of the renewed debate on campus about what politicization in the context of the university really means, The GUIDON is presenting a short historiography on this very matter. This work documents the major developments in campus politics since the rebirth of the collegiate political party system with Partido Agila’s founding in 2003, and contextualizes these recent developments within the greater history of Ateneo student politics. This is the final part of a three-part series; the preceding two parts are available in the last two issues of The GUIDON.)

Part 1: Campus (r)evolutions

Part 2: Crisis and transformation

The conditions that led to the establishment of the Christian Union for Socialist and Democratic Advancement (Crusada) seems to have been building up for years, but the party’s birth took place one August evening, as a group of political science majors were having their fix of caffeine at Starbucks Katipunan.

The inconspicuous setting could have masked the occasion’s significance, but it was nevertheless a fateful moment for the gathered group of students who were all animated by a common ideology. By the end of the meeting, they were able to form, at least in concept, the political party that now seems to be causing the most buzz in campus.

While Partido IsaBuhay IsaGawa – Agila (IBIG-Agila) and the Alliance of Student Leaders (ASL) were busy completing their slates for the Freshmen and Special Elections, Crusada was officially formed on August 20, 2010, and it has since been in existence for around 11 months. Yet even with its young age, the party has deeply involved itself with a number of political efforts catered to different advocacies. An example would be Crusada’s recently forged alliance with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Employees’ and Workers’ Union.

“As social democrats, we must be mindful of the exclusions inherent in our politics—those who we do not listen to,” Crusada Party Premier, Miguel Rivera, says about that much publicized party move. “That’s one of the reasons why we partnered with the union: because they are an inherent part of our community here, but students do not know much about what they are going through, or what they want for the students.”

Crusada, according to Rivera, concretizes its members’ Christian and social democratic ideals through party actions as they address the issues that their party finds a strong connection to. About this, Rivera says, “[Crusada] is always for the marginalized.”

Along party lines

These days, the word “politicization” seems to be a buzz word among student politicians. It is a term whose meaning often finds contestation and debate.

Politicization is commonly associated with the awareness about social issues, both inside and outside the Ateneo. For Drew Copuyoc, current Sanggunian President and a former candidate of ASL, politicization means being informed and critical of issues that are relevant to society.

Gio Alejo, current Sanggunian Vice President and a member of IBIG-Agila, meanwhile says that politicization means “being engaged in the happenings in the political aspect of the school, through the student government, and in the issues that happen… outside the school.”

Rivera, on the other hand, offers a definition that goes beyond awareness about issues and a personal engagement in them. For him and his party, it is important for students to realize, first and foremost, how they themselves are implicated in the issues that surround them.

“If you talk about issues like the Maguinadanao massacre, climate change, or labor, for example, we view it as something external, something far away from us,” Rivera says. “But I want students to learn and realize that when they hear the word ‘politicization,’ it is [about] the way they live their life as a student.”

The nuances of student politics

Crusada, IBIG-Agila and ASL share no one definition of politicization—a diversity that seems to stem from their differing views on how politicization is present in the Ateneo.

For Rivera, there is not much politicization in the community, but there is an ongoing search for a distinctly Atenean brand of politics. As of now, he says, the students don’t exactly ignore the political situation in campus, but they don’t really see its implications on them. That is why he considers the indifference of many students a valid political stance. He attributes this indifference to what, for him, is the Sanggunian’s failure to make itself relevant to the students, since it does not successfully examine the issues that the students are truly concerned about.

Copuyoc counters, though, that apathy to the student government is not a valid stand because it prevents the students from availing of the opportunity to make a stand in the first place. It is clear that for him, the Sanggunian and its instruments are the best avenues for student political involvement.

Meanwhile, David de Castro, a former IBIG-Agila stalwart and the leader of the One Initiative Movement, says that there is a political scene in campus that operates separate from the political parties and the Sanggunian, and instead functions as individual nonpartisan organizations.

“[There are] people who, instead of patronizing political parties, are more involved with their organizations’ activities,” de Castro says. “These students may not be responsive to the Sanggunian, but they are responsive to their organizations.”

Different channels. According to OIM President David de Castro, some students would rather respond to their own organizations than to the Sanggunian or to the student political parties. Photo by Tim Arafiles.

Politicization in parties

The three political formations in campus—Crusada, IBIG-Agila and ASL—have different ways of being involved in the campus’ present political scene.

Crusada, for example, is critical about the issues it caters to. According to Rivera, the party concerns itself with matters regarding democracy and the situation of the marginalized.

What Copuyoc finds problematic about Crusada’s approach, though, is that it lacks student engagement, effectively reciprocating Crusada’s criticism of the Sanggunian. “If you can’t engage the student body—or at least a big number of them—then there’s something wrong with how you do things,” Copuyoc says, in reference to Crusada.

For his part, Alejo thinks that Crusada is off to a good start, since the party has enabled its members’ involvement in different advocacies and has helped mobilize the community in responding to national concerns, despite what he sees as its detachment from the Sanggunian.

Being both part of the Sanggunian, though, Alejo and Copuyoc have similar views on how each of their respective parties contributes to the political scene in the Ateneo. Alejo, who has been part of the Sanggunian and IBIG-Agila since his freshman year, emphasizes that the student body comes first in his priority list.

“[Let’s say] there is a student who is in need, and there’s the labor union clamoring for change. Being the Vice President of the Sanggunian, along with the other IBIG-Agila members who were elected, [I] am mandated to help the student who is in need first,” Alejo explains, shedding light on one difference between Crusada and IBIG-Agila.

Copuyoc also emphasizes the importance of the Sanggunian’s leadership role over the particular roles of the political parties. He argues that the Sanggunian’s political impact does not have much to do with student political parties.

“IBIG-Agila and ASL are doing what they’re doing now through the Sanggunian,” he says. “So for me, it’s not really about the political parties anymore—it’s about what the Sanggunian will do.”

This is precisely one of Crusada’s main gripes about a Sanggunian-oriented approach in student politicization. The Sanggunian is effectively packaged as the only avenue available to political formations like IBIG-Agila, ASL and Crusada to make an impact in the community.

Rivera argues, though, that the problems lie in IBIG-Agila and ASL themselves, specifically in the way they have been conducting business as political groups. This may be due to the ambiguous ideological principles of the two mentioned parties.

“The problem with IBIG-Agila is its lack of ideology,” Rivera explains. “IBIG-Agila has been in existence for eight years and they’ve never come up with any specific action as a party in terms of their politics, because there is no politics in IBIG-Agila.”

He says the same thing for ASL. While it must be noted that it does not package itself as a genuine party but as a loose coalition, Rivera thinks that as a political organization, it lacks the basic framework needed to carry out political activities. “How [ASL members are] conducting their parties is very internal and elections-based,” he says.

De Castro also points out the same flaw in the two mentioned political groups. He says this even as he used to belong to IBIG-Agila, which markets itself as the “premier political party” in the Ateneo. De Castro notes that Crusada has a very strong party ideology that’s consistent with the way it goes about campus politics.

“If you don’t have an ideology,” he says, “you’d be [approaching] issues left and right. [An ideology is] your framework for action.”

De Castro does note the value of IBIG-Agila’s and ASL’s long background in campus politics. “But then,” he says, “they shouldn’t stop there—they should also fix their ideologies. They had certain precepts, but it’s not clear in what they do.”

Importance of politics

Despite the differences in each of the political parties, they agree as to why politics is important in the community, especially for students.

“At the end of the day, student politics forms students,” Copuyoc says.

Alejo echoes these sentiments, and thinks that healthy student politics would help the community in making wiser choices in the greater world.

But for Rivera, what is being formed in political involvement is more than just responsible citizenship. He says that it is also about giving back to the community.

“It’s a matter of justice. We’re being given so many blessings via our education and we must share [these blessings],” he says. “We should make it all worthwhile.”