THE LOYOLA Schools Constitutional Convention (ConCon) concluded its discussion on the structure of the Sanggunian on day four of their delegate assembly readings on January 29 at the John Gokongwei School of Management room 111.
Only eight out of 29 delegates were present at the beginning of the assembly, thus making the delegates unable to vote since quorum had not been reached.
Day four of the assembly readings was initially allotted to discuss matters related to finance and transition, as seen in the original timetable posted on ConCon’s social media accounts. However, their schedule was pushed back to further discuss matters related to Articles V to XII, which cover the principles, purposes, policies, and the structure and composition of the Sanggunian.
During the last assembly reading held on January 25, analysis and discourse cluster delegate Gabriel Marmeto proposed to consolidate Articles VI to XII into one, entitled “Composition, Powers, and Responsibilities of the Units of the Sanggunian.”
In line with this, the delegates gathered to discuss the different proposals made to the new consolidated article.
Consequently, two more assembly readings will be held on February 1 and 2, in order to discuss the Student Judicial Court (SJC), the Ateneo Commission on Elections (COMELEC), and finance and transition.
Deciding points for the next reading include legislative liaisons and their powers, the disbursement of the student activities fund (SAF), and the calling of assemblies of power versus sections in the constitution that define the responsibilities of the Executive Coordinating Assembly and the Batch Coordinating Assembly.
Legislative Central Board
Marmeto resumed discussing his proposal regarding the composition of the Central Board (CB), whose primary function is legislative.
The CB will now be composed of 16 year level school representatives, and will also include university-wide seats and legislative liaisons.
Muslims delegate Amir Wagas asked if the said legislative liaisons will have voting powers, to which Marmeto replied by stating that not all policies affect all sectors.
He added that whether or not the said liaisons will be granted the right to vote should be deliberated upon every time the need to vote arises.
Marmeto also mentioned that legislative liaisons will not be elected, and will instead be appointed by their respective sectors.
Representation and forwarding projects
School of Humanities delegate Madel Callanta proposed to discuss the powers and responsibilities of the School Board (SB) before discussing its composition.
Marmeto mentioned that Section 6 of the new consolidated article was an iteration of the past Constitution’s SB, however, Section 6 of the new Constitution included changes regarding the SB’s fiscal autonomy and seats for course representatives.
“Removing block reps decongests, and these course reps will have the power to create committees that can help them [in school projects],” Marmeto explained.
Dela Cruz expressed his apprehension towards the relevance of the course representatives in the Sanggunian, as there are already block representatives in different home organizations.
“I saw that the needs being addressed by representatives in my home org are the very same things that Sanggu representatives are trying to address, but the main difference is [the Sanggunian’s] representative function to the admin,” he said.
Meanwhile, business cluster delegate Gab Orlina stated that course representatives should be retained in the Sanggunian, and should forward Sanggunian projects, as block representatives in home organizations forward their own projects within the organization.
Marmeto added that students who are not part of their home organization, or who do not have a home organization, will have no one to address their concerns, thus further strengthening the need to have course representatives in the SB.
On the other hand, Ignatian Initiative and Transformative Empowerment delegate Josh Cabochan proposed to minimize bureaucracy in the system by removing the position of the secretary-treasurer, and proposed to move the responsibilities to the chairperson and the different course representatives.
However, scholars delegate Gel Laurente raised concerns regarding succession, as the lack of a secretary-treasurer in the SB will leave no one to assume the responsibilities of the chairperson when he is absent.
Voting rights for legislative liaisons
Marmeto proposed to change the amendment on sectoral representatives to legislative liaisons as previously discussed.
In line with this, Wagas discussed giving all members of the CB the right to vote, including legislative liaisons.
Low population courses delegate George Alexander Pappas asked if the right to vote will be granted upon the sectors whenever there is a need for the CB to vote, to which Wagas replied that the sectors should decide whether or not to vote.
Marmeto also stated that all legislative liaisons should be able to vote on all issues regardless of whether or not the issue at hand concerns their sector, due to the perspectives they can contribute to the floor as students rather than representatives of a sector.
