THE ATENEO Student Judicial Court (SJC) clarified that it had not yet passed judgment on the election-related cases that the Ateneo political parties say have been “withheld” from the public.

On September 13, the Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) Premier Lanz Espacio released a personal statement through his Facebook account demanding the SJC for transparency regarding the approval of the electoral code. Ignatian Initiative for Transformative Empowerment President Ele Gealogo echoed Espacio’s statement.

In his post, Espacio requested the Court to release three documents: the decision on the case filed by COMELEC to repeal a provision of the constitution (2016 c. 4), the decision granting the extension of the filing of candidacy 2016 c. 5 (referred to by a recent COMELEC memorandum) and the resolutions amending the 2016 Electoral Code which is currently in effect for the 2016 General Elections.

“[The Court’s] ambiguity puts in jeopardy the whole electoral process,” he said.

SJC responded that there is no available document for Court Case No. 2016 c.4 since the Court had not yet promulgated a decision. Moreover, the Court said that had not repealed any provisions in the 2016 Constitution.

The document for Court Case No. 2016 c.5 is already available for public scrutiny on the Court’s Google Drive.

In addition, the SJC said that they agreed with Ateneo Commission on Elections to approve the 2016 Electoral Code “per article in the most judicious time possible.”

“Court of law”

The SJC stated that the Court will not allow that it may be used to cause distrust and intrigue in the electoral process.

In an interview with The GUIDON, Espacio said that he was unsure whether or not the SJC actively refused to release documents to the public. However, he said that their actions had significant implications to the conduct of the elections.

“It’s not just really per se, either publicizing the documents or not, but really the instrumental value of that and those documents themselves,” he said.

To defend the transparency of the Court, SJC stated in the release that they had been posting documents on their page. “The Court has been transparent in its documents, hence publishing these documents online.”

In line with this, the SJC mentioned that they acknowledge the concern of Espacio and Gealogo, however, requests the public “to restrain from issuing statements that shall merely cause undue alarm.”