THE CONSTITUTIONAL Convention (ConCon) central team and delegates commenced their three-day formation seminar (FormSem) with a review on the parts and essence of a constitution with guest speaker Atty. Christine Lao.
The ConCon FormSem, organized with the Office of Student Activities, was held within campus on November 16 and will continue in Alta Roca, Antipolo City.
The seminar aims to prepare the delegates for reading and amending the 2005 Constitution of the Undergraduate Students of the Loyola Schools.
Lao said that a constitution is the constitutive document of an organization—a set of rules for the entire student body.
“In the end, it is you who decides how you want to be ruled… How do you want to organize yourselves? That is what a constitution is. How do you want to have a voice?” she said.
Lao explained that students need to organize themselves because a school society is built on participative democracy, a framework where students have the answers.
She emphasized, however, that the form and structure is not important; what is important is that it works for the students.
Lao also said that “there are virtues to hewing close to a model [of a constitution],” such as the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, but it is critical to see differences in terms of context.
She discussed that the bill of rights is asserted against the government in the Philippine constitution. In the Sanggunian’s constitution, however, the bill of rights of a student is asserted against the administration, not the student government.
Further discussing a constitution’s parts, Lao said that a preamble is supposed to guide the interpretation of the document, especially for provisions that are vague.
ConCon Head Shiphrah Belonguel said that the constitution is silent in terms of succession if a Sanggunian president is not elected, since it also stipulates that the top seat cannot be filled via special elections during the Freshmen and Special Elections.
In the aftermath of the 2014 General Elections, the Ateneo Student Judicial Court “conditionally allowed” for the election of a president separate from the 2014 Freshmen and Special Elections but ahead of the upcoming general elections.
The court granted the Ateneo Commission on Elections (COMELEC) the discretion of holding a special elections for the presidential seat; the electoral body decided against this.
The COMELEC memorandum on the issue declared that while filling up the empty positions is a priority of the Sanggunian, it “sees no critical need” to conduct a separate special elections.
Lao questioned why the constitution was interpreted in that way when its objective is student representation. “Why would you construe that vague provision in such a way na ang resulta ay walang representation (Why would you construe that vague provision in such a way that it would result to no representation?)”
She appealed to the ConCon team and delegates to clarify the objectives of the constitution in the preamble because it is the basis for interpretation.
Lao also said that the ConCon should work on a constitution that they feel would work for the Ateneo today and would work for as long as possible.
“‘Yun ‘yung responsibilidad ninyo. Kayo ang magdedesisyon kung paano kayo magkakaboses (That is your responsibility. You will decide on how you will have a voice.),” she said.
