OFFICE OF Student Activities (OSA) Director Chris Castillo said in an interview with The GUIDON on March 10 that the Ateneo needs the Sanggunian to ensure student representation and formation.
This is following the results of the 2014 Sanggunian General Elections, where only 10 out of the 23 Central Board (CB) positions were filled.
The following CB positions were left vacant: President, vice president, secretary-general, finance officer (FO), School of Humanities chairperson and secretary-treasurer, School of Science and Engineering chairperson, secretary-treasurer, senior CB representative and senior executive officer, and School of Social Sciences (SOSS) chairperson, secretary-treasurer and senior CB representative.
According to Castillo, “the Ateneo administration sees value in Sanggunian.”
Article VI, Section 2 of the 2012 edition of the Undergraduate Handbook of the Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Schools states: “The school shall ensure the democratic and autonomous existence of the Student Council. Pursuant thereto, there shall be one supreme body, the Student Council, which shall be the official representative of the student body and which shall be given recognition by the Loyola Schools.”
Castillo said that OSA maintained a “professional distance” as regards the autonomy of the Sanggunian.
However, he said that OSA will be guiding the Sanggunian next year in terms of holding focus-group discussions, analyzing data from class surveys, evaluating the student governments of other universities, among others.
“Whether or not they (Sanggunian officers) want us (OSA) to help, we will, because it’s part of our formative duties to do so even if it is implicitly [stated] in [Sanggunian] documents,” Castillo added.
Beyond provisions
In the last meeting of the Sanggunian CB School Year (SY) 2013-2014 held on February 28, OSA Formator Rem Casiño said that the Sanggunian might have to make decisions beyond the provisions of the 2005 Constitution of the Undergraduate Students of the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools to address the lack of officers.
During the meeting, the incumbent CB officers suggested that the CB members for SY 2014-2015 should be the ones to appoint representatives for the following: Sanggunian committee seats, council seats, Buklod Atenista, the Ateneo de Manila University Disaster Response and Management Team, among others.
“This (university-wide failure of elections) hasn’t happened before. If you’re so careful to commit mistakes because no one knows what to do, we really don’t know what to do,” Casiño said in a mix of English and Filipino. “We can’t leave this (Sanggunian) without any solutions.”
Incumbent Sanggunian Finance Officer Tin Andujare said that the current concern is to make sure that the student government will be able to function despite its lack of officers until the 2014 Sanggunian Freshmen and Special Elections on August.
Andujare said that if the Sanggunian is rendered incapable of delivering services to the student body given its current situation, then the Ateneo administration may have to appoint its own student arm whose functions will be similar to that of the Sanggunian.
Meanwhile, in a privilege speech during the CB meeting held on March 7, Castillo said that some of the Sanggunian’s primary concerns next school year may include appointing “qualified” Ateneo students into the council seats and amending the Constitution.
In his interview with The GUIDON, Castillo added that the school deans need student point-persons to provide a “student perspective” when making decisions on the administrative level.
Article V, Section 2 of the Constitution stipulates that Sanggunian officers shall represent the student body in all policy and decision-making university bodies and other associations which affect the students’ rights and welfare.
The student representatives for the school deans are usually the Sanggunian school chairpersons.
The Sanggunian also appoints representatives for the following administration committees: School Council, School Forum, Administrative Council, Standards Committee, Curriculum Committee, Discipline Committee, Budget Committee, Committee on Social Involvement, Agenda Setting Committee, Dormitory Committee and Cafeteria Committee.
An interim solution
Meanwhile, incumbent Sanggunian Secretary-General AJ Elicaño formed the Knowledge Management Group (KMG) in order to address the problems brought about by the vacant secretary-general position.
The KMG aims to execute the internal administrative functions of a secretary-general until such time that a secretary-general is duly elected or appointed.
The Sanggunian CB SY 2013-2014 approved Elicaño’s resolution to form the KMG on February 28.
During the first meeting of the Sanggunian CB SY 2014-2015 held on March 7, SOSS Sophomore CB Representative Miguel Hamoy presented a list of the first KMG members: Marla Katrina Barreiro, Joseph Bautista, Paolo Joseph Cari, Jan Nikko Dela Paz, Chrisse Joy Delos Santos, Corazon Lorenzo Mapolon, Jean Camille Monje, Alfonso Gabriel Mutuc, Angela Carmela Natividad, Victor Antonio Ortega, Anthea Isabelle Pangilinan, Ma. Monica Isabel Perdices, Lance Gabriel Putong, Jan Camille Rosales, Carlos Manuel Tabunda, Krysten Alarice Tan, Benjamin Alvaro Tañedo and Alfredo Paolo Vergara.
