THE TWO political parties of the Ateneo and the Transitory Government (TransGov) of the Sanggunian clashed on social media over issues concerning campaign funding for the 2016 Sanggunian elections. This issue was first brought to light during the Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates on September 29 at the Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall Roof Deck.

TransGov Coordinator Carmela Vinzon, who is also running for President, said that the campaign funding was offered to both the Ignatian Initiative for Transformative Empowerment (IgnITE) Movement and the Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) Ateneo de Manila.

“[USAD] decided to send an email stating that they will not be availing of the subsidy, while [IgnITE] decided that they would avail of it. That’s why the subsidy was given to the other party,” she said.

However, USAD Vice Presidential candidate Camille Leong protested that they were not informed that the subsidy took effect. She added that they rebuked the very idea of funding political parties because it is a “misuse of public funds” in the context of a transitory government.

IgnITE President Ele Gealogo shared his sentiments later that night through a Facebook post. He narrated that TransGov approached both IgnITE Movement and USAD to offer the subsidy.

Gealogo’s post read, “We as IgnITE, since it was already proven legal by an inquiry beforehand, saw [the campaign subsidy] as what had been initially proposed as—a tool for empowerment for a recognized student group inside campus to mobilize.”

‘A tool for empowerment’

Gealogo also explained in his post that in the last Sanggunian 2015-2016 meeting, where the role and composition of TransGov were discussed, the Constitutional Convention gave recommendations on how the TransGov can empower political parties and coalitions.

“It was discussed in this meeting that TransGov could give financial support to both parties subject to use. Later, the legalities of this were clarified and approved,” he said.

In an interview with The GUIDON, Vinzon stated her position on the subsidy:

“We believe kasi na funding a campaign is expensive. We believe na just because a person is not able to afford that campaign, it shouldn’t stop [him or her] from being able to fully participate in the campaign experience,” she said. “It’s really a way to help the political parties din to more fully participate in the Sanggunian elections.”

Financing the parties

TransGov Finance Chairperson Hya Bendaña said that the budget proposals of the political parties do not have a maximum nor minimum amount, but they will go through careful examination. This is because TransGov extended the protocol for Sanggunian units to the political parties.

“We evaluate if there are unnecessary expenses that we need to cut down, if fair ‘yung prices, if they did not cheat in their proposals. If we think the proposal is okay, we will accept it and we will approve it,” she said.

“But if we see that there are some corrections to be made, if we think that there are prices and quantities na hindi tama, we ask them to revise it and resubmit it,” she added.

Bendaña noted that she contacted IgnITE and USAD mid-August to inquire about the budget proposals of the respective parties. According to her, IgnITE Movement sent her a “proposal with figures” while USAD sent her a “memo.”

“Since one said ‘no’ and the other said ‘yes’, I processed the one that said ‘yes’,” she said.

IgnITE Movement’s budget proposal was then approved in sequence by the Department of Finance, Vinzon as the Sanggunian Coordinator, Office for Student Activities, and verified by the Commission on Audit.

Morover, Bendaña clarified that the funding is on a disbursement basis.

“Ang contract [ng Department of Finance] with IgnITE was that they have to show me the receipts for me to be sure na ito talaga ‘yung pinaggastusan nila and tama ‘yung allocation. Right now, wala pang naibibigay sa kanila na cash because the processing is still on hold. It was just an approval on paper (The contract between the Department of Finance and IgnITE was that they have to show me the receipts for me to be sure of their spending and allocation. Right now, they haven’t been given any cash because the processing is still on hold. It was just an approval on paper),” she said.

Miscommunication

USAD Premier Lanz Espacio confirmed that Bendaña indeed contacted him on August 17. He received a Facebook message stating, “Elections are coming and part of TransGov’s goal of empowering the [political parties] is by giving them subsidies.”

He said that Bendaña requested him to submit a budget proposal a week after and asked if he had any queries. He responded by asking how much is allocated for the subsidy, to which Bendaña said there is none.

On August 24, Espacio sent a formal memorandum to the TransGov, “as any political party should.” The memo stated the Party’s rejection of the TransGov’s proposal to fund political parties for the elections. He received a “simple thank you” from Bendaña.

“I thought that the subsidy proposal was called off because our Party’s position was considered in the process. So if it didn’t reach Ms. Carmela Vinzon, it is out of our hands,” Espacio said.

Bendaña explained that her response, “thank you,” was to acknowledge the receipt of the message. She said that she understood the request for a meeting, but at the same time, read it as a rejection of her proposal.

However, both Vinzon and Bendaña admit that it was a case of miscommunication.

“Had we known that it was explicitly what they wanted, and not just a rejection [of their subsidy], we would of course had set a meeting with them to talk about it,” Vinzon said.

Vinzon asserts that the oversight on the memo “does not change the fact that a meeting has already been called a long time ago.” Additionally, she insists that the meeting before aimed to tackle issues besides the subsidy such as other ideas on how the TransGov can empower and help the political parties in the elections.

“I was asking them what their plans were, if we could level off or if we can just meet to ask how we can help them to have a successful elections together. They said no because I was affiliated with the other party which I respected,” Vinzon said.

She further explained that she offered a more “general meeting” on how TransGov can help USAD in particular. Her message was seen, but there was no response.

Need for ‘formality’

Espacio points out that there was no “formal invitation” not just to USAD, but also to other parties who may have been interested to participate in the transition government.

“Essentially, what they are trying to insinuate is that our Party has actively not participated in the TransGov. I reject totally that notion because what they’ve done is informally, through Facebook message or through informal means of communication, contact our Party, and for us this isn’t the way our government should be run,” he said.

“It was only on September 29, during the debates, that Ms. Carmela Vinzon publicly announced that there is indeed a government program for political party subsidies and that is why we reacted in that way,” he added.

Espacio stressed that TransGov’s failure to inform the public of such program showed a lack of formality, transparency, and professionalism.

“We need to have documents. We need to pronounce these in public because again, it wasn’t only our Party that was shocked that this policy was implemented. Also the other students in the said forum were for the first time hearing about these kinds of policies,” he said.

Additionally, he questioned the absence of a resolution and a formal procedure on the budget allocation.

“Essentially, what happened was, the same process for giving funds for any unit of the Sanggunian was applied to political parties, which obviously, political parties are not units of the Sanggunian,” he added.

Espacio maintained that the TransGov should respond to these questions for the purpose of being held accountable to the student body whose funds were used in funding political parties.

Responding to criticisms

Vinzon and Bendaña said that the absence of the resolution can be attributed to the absence of a policy-writing body in the TransGov.

“The TransGov is very obscure, wala kaming actual policy-making body. Hindi nag-fufunction Central Board namin kaya there’s no group also to write the resolution,” Vinzon said. “Structural problem siya.”

According to Vinzon, the function of TransGov is to continue the provision of basic services and facilitate the next Sanggunian. Moreover, they are doing efforts that are “needed at the moment.”

On the issue of formal communications, Bendaña apologizes for using Facebook as her medium. She believed that it was enough and she failed to reevaluate her processes because everyone found it convenient.

Morever, Bendaña agrees that it is better to use formal means of communication, but she wishes USAD could have raised this sooner if this was their issue.

“I think before they even tell us the criticisms in the first place, they should first reflect kung nag-eengage sila properly, appropriately, and timely. Before, we were asking for their opinions, we were asking for what they want to say, we were asking for their voice, but they never spoke [up],” Bendaña said.

Meanwhile, Espacio emphasized that it is a “problematic argument” to silence their opposition based on their non-participation in the TransGov.

“If you silence people on the basis of their non-participation in the Sanggunian, then what kind of policy do you expect to arise from that kind of whole, essentially, approach to student governance?” Espacio said.

“Then by extension, everyone who didn’t participate in the transition government should have no inputs or no legitimacy to provide critiques to the transition government,” he added.