Photo by Stephanie C. Gorospe

PANELISTS AND audience members in the 2012 Miting de Avance for the Freshman and Special Elections questioned the candidates regarding the small number of voters who attended the said event held at the Colayco Pavilion on August 3.

The Miting de Avance is a pre-election protocol that calls the student body to hear out the platforms of the candidates.

All freshman candidates come from different groups, namely Ignatian Initiative for Transformative Empowerment (Ignite), United Students’ Action for Democracy (USAD) and Alliance of Student Leaders (ASL).

During the question and answer portion, panelist and Ateneo Resident Students Association President (ARSA) Kat Tuason noted the lack of voters in attendance.

Several members of the audience echoed Tuason’s sentiments. They asked about how the candidates would make sure that the voters be active during the elections and why not a lot of voters were present during the Miting de Avance.

Executive Officer (EO) candidate Bea Francisco answered that they would encourage the voters to register through a symposium.

Meanwhile, Central Board (CB) candidate Luigi del Rosario said, “I don’t really want to make excuses as to why we believe our voters aren’t here. I speak for the group [Ignite], hindi talaga kami nagkulang sa invitation (We were not lacking in sending out invitations).”

“We posted it everywhere, on Facebook, on Twitter. It’s just that, the time is 4:30-7:30, gagabihin sila sa Ateneo (they will have to stay late in Ateneo). Also there are GAs (general assemblies) in other orgs.”

Council of Organizations in the Ateneo (COA) President Gigi de Villa challenged the candidates on how to assure that their constituents would follow them when they could not even show up during the event.

Platforms and candidates

The candidates discussed points that highlighted student involvement, individualism, unity, the removing of school branding, becoming community-oriented and the Sanggunian’s visibility.

Running for Freshman CB representative are JB Bautista (Ignite) for the School of Humanities (SOH); Ram Casas (USAD), Jesse Lui (Ignite) and Tak Reyes (ASL) for the School of Management (SOM); Patrick Chong (USAD), Jo Cortez (ASL) and Mark Katigbak (Ignite) for the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE); and Fil Garciano (USAD) and Luke Santos (Ignite) for School of Social Sciences (SOSS).

Meanwhile, running for the position of freshman EO, the candidates are Yna Guballa (Ignite) for SOH; Iñigo Acosta (ASL) and James Zamora (Ignite) for SOM; Aris Amor (USAD) and Mel Yutuc (ASL) for SOSE; and Luis Coloso (Ignite) and Coby Suarez (USAD) for SOSS.

Special elections will also be held. SOH students Arsenio Armas (Ignite) and Nicole Tosoc (Ignite) are going for sophomore and junior CB representatives, respectively, with RJ Dimla (Ignite) for Sophomore EO.

Toby Tobias (ASL) is running for a place in the CB, while del Rosario (Ignite) and Francisco (ASL) are vying for the EO position. All three of them are SOSE sophomores.

Incoming elections

“We are ready. We are in time with our planned calendar for the preparations,” said Commission on Elections Finance Commissioner Zedrick Torres.

SOSS Chairperson Toni Potenciano reminded the freshmen voters to “always look at the platforms, and more than looking at platforms, get to know [their] candidates.”

Freshman and Special Elections will be held from August 8 to 10.

Updated  1:33 PM, August 6, 2012.