THE ATENEO Commission on Elections (COMELEC) released the results for the 2017 Sanggunian Freshman Elections last October 4. A total of 292 votes were tallied with a voter turnout of 37%. Fifteen representatives were elected, while 55 seats remain unfilled.

Eight positions remain vacant for the School of Humanities (SOH) freshman course representatives, while the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) and the School of Social Sciences (SOSS) have 14 and 17 vacant positions, respectively. The School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) has 16 vacant positions for course representatives.

A special election will be held on October 18-19 to fill the vacancies. However, according to the provisional list by Ateneo COMELEC released last October 12, only eight candidates are running for the special elections.

JGSOM Representative Alec Lim said that the vacancies are “disturbing not just for the freshmen batch, but for the Sanggunian as a whole.”

“It impairs the democratic structure that the Sanggunian has, especially when making decisions. There are a lot of times when I’d want to forward a certain policy, program, or idea, but the apparent lack of representatives within my assembly doesn’t assure me that it’s what the student wants,” he said.

According to Lim, freshmen are an “integral part” of the current Sanggunian “since they will have the most time [to] maximize” the new Constitution.

While the vacancies restrict “certain processes,” Lim assured that these “shouldn’t be a hindrance in the operations of the Sanggunian.”

“For one, all the school Sanggunians have our own executive teams which aid us in doing the work. Also, there are other numerous ways to gather insight than through the supposed formal structure of the Sanggunian,” he said.

Dismal turnout

On October 8, the Ateneo COMELEC released a memo stating that “there are remaining vacant positions for freshman course representatives.” The memo lists the number of representative positions that are available for the special elections.

Asked about the ungenerous voter turnout, COMELEC Commissioner Martin Moreno said that he personally thought that more course reps would have run but is still satisfied with the 15 elected course representatives nonetheless.

“Hopefully, more people will run and vote for course reps this Special Elections and in the next General elections,” he said.

Lim said that while the freshman elections turnout was higher than the 2017 Sanggunian General Election held last March, the turnout for the Freshman Elections was “relatively lower than what should be expected especially since as freshmen, they weren’t immediately exposed to the current perception of the Sanggunian as irrelevant.”

“Personally, I think this is due to a multitude of factors such as the lack of response of upperclassmen when asked by a freshman ‘what does Sanggu do?’ or the lack of reach or buzz of the news of freshmen elections, coupled with timing and scheduling problems (memorandum regarding freshmen elections were released September 8, a Friday, while Filing of Candidacy period was already September 11-15), or maybe just a general disinterest in student government work,” Lim said.

Winners

Meanwhile, the following is the list of freshman representatives elected earlier this month:

Vergil Eduarte for AB Political Science (AB POS), Andie Lim for AB Management Economics (AB MEC), Emerson Enriquez for AB Communication (AB COM), Karl Salvador for AB Economics, Thyla Segovia for AB Diplomacy and International Relations (AB DipIR), Alex Marcelo and Phil Saligumba for BS Psychology (BS PSY), and John Mabagos for AB Development Studies (AB DS) as SOSE freshman representatives;

Caila Noche for BFA Creative Writing (BFA CW), and Luna Cruz for BFA Information Design (BFA ID) as SOH freshman representatives;

Neil Gomez for BS Management Honors (BS MGT-H), Darlene Co for BS Communications Technology Management (BS CTM), and Vince Velilla for BS Management Engineering (BS ME) as JGSOM freshman representatives;

James Cuartero for BS Computer Science (BS CS) and BS Digital Game Design and Development (BS DGDD), and Veronica Ventura for BS Management Information Systems (BS MIS) as SOSE freshman representatives.

All winners are independent, since no political party or coalition fielded bets for this election.

Sentiments and plans

The freshman representatives bared their plans and expectations to The GUIDON. AB MEC representative Lim said she is “excited” to serve her coursemates and wishes to repay the support she received by serving them well.

“As the course representative, I have plans to hopefully make my coursemates active in their orgs, especially our home org, [Ateneo Management Economics Organization], while being able to balance their academics and their health,” Lim said.

Lim also plans to connect the MEC blocks and has suggested hosting dinners and study sessions with upperclassmen in order to achieve this.

Lim hopes that her coursemates will be able to relay all their concerns to her as well. “I also plan to talk to a few people from each block once in awhile,” she said.

Meanwhile, BFA CW representative Noche said she wants to address the “prevalent question from her coursemates” on whether or not CW majors can make money through writing.

“I want to change [the notion that we will find difficulty in finding jobs] by hopefully securing more internship opportunities for my coursemates in the hopes that we’ll be able to get an edge in the job market,” she said.

Noche added that she plans to secure publishing opportunities for her coursemates, as well as help propose necessary adjustments to the curriculum to “keep it relevant” to what they want to learn as writers.

For AB POS Representative Segovia, she said that she is “ecstatic that the love for her coursemates is reciprocated.”

Segovia plans to promote unity and inclusivity in her course by organizing block bonding activities. She also wants this to address the issue of coursemates who feel “left out” from their respective blocks.

Meanwhile, BS CS and BS DGDD representative Cuartero said that he will fully support his coursemates by supporting the programs and activities of the SOSE Sanggunian.

As one of the BS PSY Representatives, Marcelo hopes to conduct individual consultations with her coursemates and to set up a mentorship program between freshmen and upperclassmen from her course.

‘Part of something bigger’

As the AB DS Representative, Mabagos is “glad to be part of something bigger,” and is “excited to be doing something as early as now.”

“It would be great if I could help the dynamics between everyone be more developed. My aim right now is to promote being more active in asking our own department or upperclassmen more specific details to help make the course more concrete and defined in my coursemates’ heads,” he said.

Salvador, AB EC representative, plans to strengthen his block’s bond through helping one another with respective concerns and holding block bonding sessions.

“Another platform of mine is to provide a dialogue where people from our course can tell and express their needs and concerns to the respective office involved,” he said.

Gomez, the BS MGT-H Representative, wishes to promote inter-batch unity within his course. “Given that the MH community is already relatively small and that the mortality rate is quite high, I figured that it would be nice if everyone just got together and helped each other out,” he said.

Gomez also plans to organize summer review classes before sophomore year in order to prepare for their major subjects.

AB COM Representative Enriquez is “grateful and humbled” in winning, and feels that he is ready to take on the tasks he needs to accomplish with his title.

“At the heart of all of this, I plan to utilize the skill which we are best known for, I wish to communicate with them as much as possible. I want this to be a year that’s productive, fun and memorable,” he said.

Enriquez also acknowledged the “troubling, but not hopeless” times of the country and encouraged his batchmates to be as involved as possible.

“We have to make ourselves as visible as possible. The education we are receiving now is to be used to mold ourselves into movers and shakers who’ll switch things up for the better in our country,” he said.

“Let’s all tackle things with the big picture in mind. But of course, let’s do that while having fun and valuing each other’s presence,” he added. With reports from Robbin M. Dagle.