Despite a number of positions with no willing candidate and with a single unopposed electoral party, the Student Government (SG) elections will still be held on April 25-27. Three positions under the executive council and 12 leadership posts under the college councils are still unoccupied out of the 44 available seats.
The announcement of the final roll of candidates, all belonging to the Alliance of Lasallian Youth (ALAY) leaders party, was released by the Committee on Elections (Comelec) through a Facebook post last Mar. 15.
Comelec Chairperson Chris Warren Manalo expressed his concerns over the dire number of student leaders who wish to be a part of the largest student governing body that prompted their committee to provide an extension for the filing of candidacy.
According to Manalo, their efforts to extend the deadline of the filing of candidacy twice from March 8 until March 12 did not result to a complete and competitive lineup of candidates for significant posts in both the executive and college councils.
“Yung pag-eextend pa ng pag-eextend, nagiging unconstitutional na s’ya,” said Manalo, citing the unlikelihood of any further extension.
He admitted that it was difficult for them to convince the student body to join even though they have directly coordinated with the SG in encouraging potential student leaders to participate in this year’s elections.
“Actually, aminado ako na nahirapan talaga kami kasi unang-una, wala na ‘yung higher years… and then sa first year [students] naman, yung iba natatakot tumakbo since wala pa nga silang experience,” Manalo said, referring to the lack of senior students due to the gap brought about by the implementation of the K-12 program.
No candidates will be running for positions of the secretary, treasurer, and public relations officer under executive council.
The College of Business, Economics, Accountancy and Management (CBEAM) lacks a program coordinator candidate for its marketing program while no candidate will be running for all the other coordinators under College of Education, Arts and Sciences (CEAS) and College of International Hospitality and Tourism Management (CITHM).
Moreover, the College of Information Technology and Engineering (CITE) also failed to come up with a running candidate for their college governor, vice governor, secretary, and treasurer while only the College of Nursing (CON) have completed the line up of candidates for their college council.
Voting turnout
In the recently held Candidates’ Orientation last March 16, COMELEC explained that should the elections fail due to voting turnout below 50% for any position in this year’s election, an appointment committee composed of the outgoing members of SG executive council and the Students Activities Office will oversee the selection for unfilled and unsuccessful positions facilitated by the DLSL COMELEC.
“Magkakaroon ng resolution regarding sa process ng appointment, so ‘yung mga nag-failed [at] ‘yung mga vacant positions, through appointment siya hindi [na] siya through election,” Manalo said.
Last year, a number of positions under the executive council ended with failed elections because the total number of votes did not reach the minimum of 1,646 for each position corresponding to 33.24% voting turnout.
This year, at least 1,603 votes from the students are needed for the successful elections of the executive posts. “Most probably 60% yung chance ng failed yung elections kasi kasali pa din sa voting population yung mga graduating students. Most of them [are doing] thesis and OJT,” predicts Manalo.
Student perspective
When asked about the lack of participants in this year’s election, BS Electronics Engineering student, Ivan Harina said that there are a lot of students who want to serve the school, however, something may be holding them back.
“The task of a student leader is daunting as not everyone can balance work, academics and personal life,” Harina added.
He also explained that it would be a challenge for both CSO and SG to help the students to find confidence in order to serve.
On the other hand, first-year BS Computer Science student Miles Mojica pointed out the lack of appreciation the new students have towards the SG.
“[There’s lack of participation] because hindi pa nakikita ng mga students especially ‘yung mga new students ang importance ng SG pagdating sa La Salle. Ang nasa mentalidad ng mga students ngayon ay ‘Wala aksaya oras lang yan’ or ‘Wala naman ako makukuha diyan,’” Mojica said.
Nonetheless, Mojica affirmed his stance towards voting. “Sa tingin ko lahat tayo ay encouraged na bumoto dahil karapatan natin yun bilang student,” he said.
Room-to-room campaigns are scheduled on April 1-12 while online campaigns through social media will be on April 13-20.
