INCOMING SANGGUNIAN President Ia Marañon said that the low voter turnout of the 2017 Sanggunian General Elections shows that the groundwork for student engagement needs an “overhaul of perspective.” With the Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) winning the top two positions, the Sanggunian will re-orient engagement through sectors and not just through individual students.
“For the longest time, I think the Sanggunian has always been about itself–restructuring and internal issues. The sectoral approach to governance entails [continuing] dialogues with groups and students, recognizing them as sectoral representatives in the Central Assembly (CA), and involving them in the processes of the Sanggunian,” she said.
Similarly, incoming Sanggunian Vice President Benjamin Alvero III said that spaces for participation in policy-making will be opened through sectoral representation. As CA Chair, he will lobby for a resolution that seeks the immediate recognition of already established sectors such as scholars and LGBT+ while awaiting the official guidelines from the Commission on Elections.
Despite criticisms, Marañon and Alvero both said that the problems in establishing procedures and clarifying functions in the previous administration were expected because the outgoing Sanggunian is the first ever fully elected Sanggunian in six years.
“The one regard that I would like to commend them for is the responses to the national situation. For all the lapses and mistakes done by the outgoing administration, we have to commend the things they have done right such as essentially opening the Sanggunian for greater political involvement. It is something we have to continue,” Alvero said.
Student engagement evaluation
According to Outgoing Sanggunian President Carmela Vinzon, starting with a “clean slate” helped build a better foundation for the Sanggunian to serve the student body.
“This year is definitely a year of progress for the Sanggunian. Regarding the response of the students to the Sanggunian as an institution, it is not something I seek as an end. I believe the students responding to the Sanggunian is incidental to the good service that the Sanggunian renders to them,” she said.
“In terms of the students’ response to the national situation, there was also a very good start to get the community levelled off and [get] their feet wet to ready themselves for the long haul of the future issues that may still arise during this national administration,” she added.
Vinzon said that the Sanggunian through Task Force SIKHAY has been hard at work in meeting external partners and conducting room-to-room campaigns, press conferences, and door-to-door lobbying in the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, she acknowledged that her administration was not able to tackle issues of women and LGBT+ in Ateneo, among others.
“Unfortunately, because of the short time we had during the term, the issues that were tackled were very limited. This is the first fully-functioning Sanggunian, so I expect the new administration to surpass the level of engagement and number of accomplishments this incumbent administration has done,” she said.
Meanwhile, outgoing Sanggunian Vice President Koko Quilatan said that the students responded very well to the mobilizations organized by the Sanggunian. However, he lamented the low voter turnout, indicating that a lot of students still do not see the Sanggunian as an avenue to forward their interests.
“The low voter turnout really signifies that there’s something missing. I’m attributing this to a lack of engagement on the level of course representatives. A lot of them are still thinking on the level of projects. They need to realize how much power they actually have,” he said.
“I’m also hoping for greater autonomy on the level of school assemblies. School representatives have a lot of power that they can exercise to really help out their constituents, especially through their course representatives. I’m hoping they can utilize that properly next year,” he added.
Incumbent representatives Ferdy Acosta for the School of Humanities and Neicy Pilarca for the School of Science and Engineering were re-elected, while Alec Lim will occupy the previously vacant post for the School of Management. Outgoing School of Social Sciences Representative Christian Dy said that major documents have already been transitioned to Dasha Uy.
Quilatan said that with USAD occupying the top two posts and Bukás being the majority in the Central Assembly, he hopes for a healthier political dynamic that will not “alienate” the student body.
“I’m fairly excited for an USAD-led Sanggunian, given it’s the first time for their party to be at this level of power. The challenge, I think, would have to be getting students themselves to participate in the kinds of societal engagements that they’re pushing for both inside and outside Ateneo,” he said.
Forward to next year
Banking on the successes and failures of the outgoing administration, Alvero said that the next Sanggunian will uphold transparency in all processes and deliberations.
“Saan ba tayo patungo? Sino ba ipinaglalaban natin? Ano ba ‘yung mga batayang prinsipyo natin bilang mga mag-aaral at bilang mga Atenista. Ito ang mga bagay sa akin na mahalagang pag-usapan ng susunod na Sanggunian (Where are we heading towards? Who are we fighting for? What are the principles we will uphold as students and as Ateneans? These are the important things that the next Sanggunian should deliberate on),” he said.
In the same light, Marañon said that she wants to see a Sanggunian that works not only by function, but with and through the students.
“I think that after a year of transitioning, it is time for the Sanggunian to assert itself as an institution where the students feel represented, valued, and most of all, involved in its processes,” she said.
