THE STUDENTS were nowhere to be found. This was evident in the recently concluded Miting de Avance last August 13 at the Escaler Hall, and is thus proving to be a serious concern for the upcoming Sanggunian Freshman and Special Elections.
An annual activity, the Miting de Avance aims to foster dialogue between the candidates and their constituents, and give the student-voters an opportunity to meet the aspiring leaders and challenge their platforms.
Aspiring leaders from the different student parties were all eager to express their intent of representing the student body and laying out their platforms – from addressing simple concerns as higad (tiny caterpillars) invasions, to nation-building projects – in the hope of creating a reinforced and well-functioning Sanggunian, but the attendance on the part of the student body was very low.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chief Commissioner Jessica Gail Lazaro wasn’t surprised with the low attendance as the Comelec also experienced a low voter turn out during the mock elections last August 11 and 12.
“Less than 300 students voted in the mock elections because they were probably thinking that the elections has nothing in it for them. The same thing goes here [in the Miting de Avance]”, Lazaro said in mixed English and Filipino.
Second year SOSE Central Board Representative Gio Alejo pointed to the venue as the primary reason behind the low student attendance.
“In the [Sanggu] General Elections last school year, it was held in an open field and people passing by can easily go to the Miting de Avance. For this one however, it’s held in a closed venue. I hope that students will vote come election time as we have promising platforms laid out by the candidates, and we have the automation to be excited about”, said Alejo.
The Automated Sanggu Special and Freshmen Elections are set on August 16 and 17.
Sanggunian Sec-Gen: Maan Delos Santos
2nd year SOSE Central Board Representative: Gio Alejo
hi karla!
please make sure to fact check your sources first before publishing this breaking news story
Just a helpful reminder from a former news staffer 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Hi!
This is Pao Monteiro, Associate Editor of The GUIDON.
We sincerely apologize for this oversight on the position of Mr. Alejo. We’ll correct the facts immediately.
Thank you!
Hello Mara and Cindy. This is Luther Aquino, Inquiry Editor of The GUIDON. We apologize for the oversight. The article has been updated to correct the mistake.
Thank you for visiting theguidon.com!
This is an overstatement as a number of students were present at the said event. It wasn’t jam-packed as people would hope but it was enough to fill Escaler Hall.
A few people may have tried out the mock elections (you know how ateneans are! doing something mock isn’t as interesting as the real one) but this does not mean that the Sanggunian will not reach quota. You’ll see! 🙂
Hi! I’m terribly sorry – especially to Gio Alejo and Maan Delos Santos – for that mistake. As the writer, I take full responsibility and I should’ve done a better job fact checking. I don’t have any excuses for committing that mistake, but I will be more careful and definite to what I will write about next time.