SANGGUNIAN COORDINATOR Luigi Del Rosario updated the Ateneo community on the Sanggunian’s recent activities and plans during the State of the Sanggunian Address (SOSA).
The SOSA was held at the Manuel V. Panglinan Center for Student Leadership Lobby on September 9.
The address comes as the first Sanggunian-wide event since the general failure of elections in the previous school year. Last school year’s elections failed to fill the Sanggunian’s Top 4 positions after garnering only 3,128 votes out of the 3,255 votes needed to reach quota.
Del Rosario reported that during the said elections, only 48.06% of the student body voted.
He added that following the failure of elections, the question the Sanggunian asked was, “what do we do now with what we have?”
Departmental updates
Del Rosario pointed out that despite the vacancy of top positions, the different arms of the Sanggunian are well-functioning.
He noted that the two task forces of the Sanggunian, the Constitutional Convention (ConCon) and the Ateneo Task Force (ATF) are currently active.
The ConCon is in charge of overseeing the revision process of the 2005 Constitution of the Undergraduate Students of the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools, and the ATF is Ateneo’s official student body mobilization for the 2016 national elections.
Del Rosario pointed out that ConCon recently held their press release, #PressConCon, while the ATF recently concluded voters’ registration for Quezon City District 3 residents.
He said that the Sanggunian’s Department of Internal Affairs, which is in charge of developing student leadership programs, has been busy with the freshman elections and seminars on project management and creativity.
In addition, Del Rosario said that the Department of Public Relations is aiming to “reopen communication with [Sanggunian] constituents through its Facebook and Twitter accounts.”
He said that the Department of Student Welfare and Services recently updated its automated systems for locker registration and student loans.
Moreover, Del Rosario noted that the Sanggunian spearheaded freshman introductory programs for the respective schools, namely School of Humanities Fest, School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Camp, School of Science and Engineering Camp, and John Gokongwei School of Management Night.
He particularly noted that SOSS Camp garnered an 83% attendance and an 8.5/10 overall rating from the SOSS freshmen.
What’s next for the Sanggunian?
Despite the vacancy of top positions and seemingly apathetic student body, Del Rosario said that “the Sanggunian is going to continue to serve.”
He admitted that the Sanggunian may not be relevant at the moment but he believes that the student government will become increasingly relevant as the years pass.
Del Rosario added that the Sanggunian will be instrumental to help prepare the university for the expected influx of foreign students due to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations integration.
However, Del Rosario said that the Sanggunian needs the help of the student body to accomplish its duties.
“I invite you to re-imagine the Sanggunian with us,” he said.
Del Rosario noted that the Sanggunian recently passed “An Act Allowing Students to Propose Bills and Other Forms of Legislation to the Central Board” to better involve students in the Sanggunian’s lawmaking process.
“Ayaw naming kami lang gumagawa ng bills (We wouldn’t want that it was only us drafting the bills),” he added.
He concluded by saying that “[the students] are the Sanggunian and we’re just reinforcing that.”
