AFTER POSTPONING the Sanggunian General Elections for a second time, the Ateneo Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said that they are now ready to start the rescheduled electoral processes in the third week of February.
“We’re hoping na wala naman na sanang unfortunate events na mangyari para ma-postpone ulit, but I think ready naman na kami for this coming election,” Ateneo COMELEC Officer-in-Charge Chief Commissioner John Patrick Lumbre stated.
Ateneo COMELEC faced time constraints during last year’s election planning due to the suspension of on-site classes and the typhoon disturbances. These setbacks prompted the Commission to move the Sanggunian General Elections to the Second Semester of AY 2020-2021.
Confronting past setbacks
Lumbre said that the extension of Recruitment Week 2020 to two weeks “compressed” their calendar, barring them from holding the elections during the first quarter of the first semester. Although they decided to move the elections to November, they met new challenges as Super Typhoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses caused power outages, poor internet access, and limited phone signal.
The Commission postponed the elections again to promote “representation and inclusivity.” Ateneo COMELEC Commissioner for Communications Orlean Joules Trinidad further explained that it would not be a “clean election” if only a few students could participate.
“We consulted with the Sanggunian para malaman kung ilang students ba yung naapektuhan during the typhoon and according to them, parang a thousand students [were] affected,” Lumbre shared.
Aside from constraints in time and logistics, Trinidad stated that the Communications Department encountered a lack of manpower in producing promotional materials online. According to him, some department members struggled to balance their academics and organization-related activities.
Trinidad added that even though the Ateneo COMELEC Facebook page has a wide online reach, this does not necessarily guarantee viewer engagement. “We might be getting numbers from our Facebook page, but that doesn’t mean we’re getting the same amount of responses from people viewing it,” he said.
Devising the game plan
Although lack of manpower continues to be an issue in the Communications Department, Trinidad compensated for this by planning their promotions ahead of time for the upcoming elections. He mentioned that all collaterals are already set for publication by the first week of February when second semester classes begin.
Furthermore, Ateneo COMELEC also initially planned to allow students with poor to no access to the internet to vote using SMS. However, upon further discussion, they realized that the option would not secure honest electoral processes because of double voting possibilities.
To address this, Lumbre explained that they added five days to the voting period to give students more time to vote. This means that the election period will now span one month, beginning on the third week of February until the last week of March. Special elections will proceed after Holy Week.
Ateneo COMELEC Commissioner for Logistics Cha Rev Amour Cruz also added that they plan to use the most efficient voting platform to minimize the cost for intermittent data and to make the process “student-friendly and secure.” With this, students will vote by filling out password-protected Google Form ballots through their OBF email accounts.
However, Lumbre clarified that the SMS system will still be used for information dissemination to update students who do not regularly check their emails. Cruz also shared that they plan to use Facebook advertisements to increase the reach of their page, which will contain infographics about the updated electoral guidelines.
Trinidad added that they are currently working with Developer Student Clubs Loyola to develop an informative website wherein candidates will be responsible for adding their respective campaign paraphernalia. They are hoping to launch this website in February as well.
Pushing forward
Although Lumbre assured that they are now ready for the coming elections, he mentioned that they are still considering contingencies in the event of another postponement.
“For now we are trying our best to find the most efficient way to continue the elections already since kailangan na rin talaga, but we’ll still consider contingencies naman just in case,” he said. However, he clarified that he could not identify a situation that would entail another postponement.
Cruz shared that they aim to have an honest election this year, so they are hoping for everyone’s participation. “We’re hoping to not have any more delays with it kasi yun nga, it’s been pushed back a lot of times na and I don’t think we’ll have time to have it get delayed anymore,” Trinidad added.
