THE SANGGUNIAN School Board (SB) candidates announced their plans for establishing an informed, engaged and united student body during the 2013 Sanggunian SB Miting de Avance held at the Colayco Pavilion last July 24.
The Miting de Avance is a pre-election event aimed to give students the opportunity to listen to and challenge the various platforms of the candidates.
In order to address issues regarding batch and inter-batch solidarity, several of the candidates proposed the creation of a sports festival for their respective schools.
Sophomore Executive Officer (EO) candidate Fiona Lazaro and Junior EO candidate Vanessa del Rosario both want an intramural event for the School of Social Sciences (SOSS).
Meanwhile, School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) Freshman EO candidate Camille Leong suggested an inter-batch sports festival among the students of the Ateneo.
However, these plans were questioned by Ateneo Debate Society President Dwight Tan during the event’s open forum.
“Why do values such as unity and solidarity weigh more than addressing sociopolitical issues or reforms in the Ateneo?” he asked.
Tan addressed the question to candidates from each political formation whose platforms were mainly focused on improving batch unity.
Lazaro, who is running under the Ignatian Initiative for Transformative Empowerment (Ignite), defended her platform by saying that the student government should be student-centered.
Lazaro’s political formation has been advocating for the power of the grassroots and the primacy of student empowerment.
Freshman EO candidate Theodore Co of the Alliance of Student Leaders (ASL) replied that encouraging unity among students will help them tackle issues better.
ASL’s political philosophy includes cura personalis, social action, responsible citizenship and social equality.
Meanwhile, SOSS Secretary-Treasurer candidate Marvin Lagonera said that Tan’s question doesn’t apply to his political formation.
He is part of the Christian Union for Socialist and Democratic Advancement (Crusada). The only accredited political party in the Ateneo, it calls for social justice, equality and empowerment in the Philippines.
Improved information dissemination
Other SB candidates also expressed their intent to improve information dissemination efforts to help engage the student body with regard to various issues within and outside the Ateneo.
Freshman EO candidate Naomi Bustamante said she plans to tap the social media channels of SOSS to better inform her constituents.
Nicole Gil, another freshman EO candidate, plans to create talks and seminars to provide students with information about the country’s marginalized sectors.
On the state of the Sanggunian
After presenting their platforms, the candidates answered questions from the panel and the audience members during an open forum.
The panelists were Sanggunian President Dan Remo and The Ateneo Assembly President Harvey Chua.
Remo asked the candidates, “According to your political formation, what is the current state of the Sanggunian now?”
Crusada’s Louis de Jesus said,“Binabagyo ang Sanggunian,” mentioning the failure of elections of the 2013 Sanggunian General Elections.
The representatives from ASL and Ignite echoed the same sentiments as the senior EO candidate.
“The Sanggunian needs to push more for its publicity [and] its [public relations] skills,” said Lazaro from Ignite.
Meanwhile, ASL’s Leong said that after the failure of elections last year, her political formation started to improve its efforts to encourage students to vote.
The SB candidates were also asked questions concerning the ideologies of their political formations, their stance on the Freedom of Information bill and the political apathy of students in the Ateneo.
The candidates
All of the SB candidates are running in either one of the political formations on campus: ASL, Crusada and Ignite.
Running for the School of Humanities (SOH) SB are as follows: Mikaela Pamatmat (Ignite) for freshman EO, Catherina Dario (Ignite) for sophomore EO and Ranvin Jarina (Ignite) for senior EO.
Only two SB candidates are running for the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM). Both Theodore Co (ASL) and Joseph Doroja (Ignite) are candidates for JGSOM freshman EO.
From SOSE, Leong (ASL) is running for SOSE freshman EO, while Michael Tobias (ASL) is running for SOSE Secretary-Treasurer.
The candidates for SOSS are the following: Bustamante (Ignite), Gil (Crusada) and Leandra Yu (ASL) for freshman EO, Lazaro (Ignite) and Altheo Catalo (Crusada) for sophomore EO, del Rosario (Ignite) for junior EO, Louis de Jesus (Crusada) for senior EO and Mark Robert Copuyoc and Marvin Lagonera (Crusada) for Secretary-Treasurer.
The Miting de Avance for Central Board candidates will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 PM on August 2, Friday, at the Escaler Hall.
