THE CENTRAL BOARD (CB) candidates raised their concerns regarding the Sanggunian’s fiscal transparency and autonomy during the Miting de Avance (MDA) organized by the Ateneo Commission on Elections.

The MDA was held on September 24 at the Colayco Pavillion.

The event served as an avenue for the candidates to communicate their platforms to the student body for the academic school year.

Maximizing Atenean education

School of Sciences and Engineering (SOSE) Junior CB Representative candidate Yana Chua discussed the different thrusts she would use to achieve financial transparency.

“The Loyola Schools have one of the most expensive tuitions in the country, which is why students should be informed about where their money is going and how it is being spent,” she said.

Chua added that her platform includes promoting budget hearings to establish financial guidelines and post-project financial reports to explain over- and under-spending.

Similarly, John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) Sophomore CB Representative candidate Licianne Go stressed proper collection and dissemination of information regarding budget breakdowns.

“I want to focus on making the most out of the Ateneo experience and what we’re paying for, especially with the rising cost of tuition and fees,” she shared.

Budget overhaul

During the open forum, political science senior Kim Bay asked the candidates what they thought the biggest issue in the university was.

Finance Officer candidate Christian Dy said that he believed that financial issues were the most critical in the university. He brought up the overhaul in the Sanggunian’s budget system by the administration in September 2014.

As he recounted inheriting a student council in high school with a budget of Php 4000, which was raised to Php100000 by the end of his two terms, he questioned why Ateneans could not be trusted with a budget of Php2,500,000.

He said, “We were financially autonomous. If a high school student council can do this, why can’t the Sanggunian?”

He reminded the audience that social development and investing in communities should be the top priority of bodies such as the Sanggunian.

“If you can’t trust them today, how can you trust them to run industries one day?” he said.

Towards financial independence

In response to English literature senior Madel Callanta’s question on how the candidates envision a Sanggunian with fiscal autonomy, Dy said that cooperation with the administration is necessary.

According to him, the Sanggunian is not quick to address the student body’s financial concerns because of financial dependence on the administration.

He clarified that fiscal autonomy cannot be completed this year, but a change in the Code of Internal Procedures of school boards could be the first step.

“Give the money to the students, kasi sa kanila naman ‘yun nanggaling. Let’s give more freedom to the students to spend their money (Give the money to the students because it came from them. Let’s give more freedom to the students to spend their money),” Dy said.

Editor’s note: The original article published on this site wrongly attributed Christian Dy’s response regarding Sanggunian’s fiscal autonomy to Mawe Duque. The article also failed to clarify the figures that Dy included in his account of his high school student council’s finances. These have since been corrected.