The Student Government (SG) presented a total of 37 new officers, three from the executive council, and 34 college council members to complete this year’s lineup through a post on their official Facebook page, Aug. 3.
The appointment happened due to having vacant positions for the executive vice president and CEAS, CITE, CIHTM, and CON council as the result of the lack of candidates and failed elections for executive PRO and executive auditor in last May 17 to 19 elections.
Joven Ray Briones (Executive Vice President), Francis Anne Portugal (Executive Auditor), and Allen Amor Aguado (Executive P.R.O) were added to the SG executive council by the three elected officers as stated in Article XI, Section 5 of the SG Constitution.
The said rules state that elected SG officers, the SG Adviser, and the COMELEC shall choose and assess the students who will take the vacant position.
In choosing an individual for the executive vice president position, SG Executive President Dale Fernan Castillo admitted to having difficulty with the deliberation among candidates, which led him and two of his officers to hold an internal election.
”We interviewed aspiring students and undergone deliberation, but we had a hard time in deciding, that is why we held an election among the college governors and cabinet members to help us in deciding who we should appoint,” Castillo said.
Moreover, the SG incumbent followed their Constitution and assigned Portugal to the executive auditor position by default as she only had a one-vote discrepancy last election, while two applicants were deliberated for the PRO position based on their performance, which Aguado stood out.
For the appointment of college council members, Castillo said that they prioritized selecting governors first so that they may have the freedom to find students who shared a common goal with their college councils.
“We searched for Governors first through the process of referral [by professors and fellow student leaders], personal knowledge about their leadership skills, and by the help of the former SG College Councils by endorsing and finding people who would like to serve the student body,” said Castillo.
Appointed CEAS Governor Aeron Nuella said that he found his respective officers by contacting previous student leaders and proposing plans on how they can work together effectively.
“[I] offer them the position they preferred [and] discussed improvements and changes to how we can use [our] platform to better represent students,” Nuella said.
Voicing her stand on the matter, a third-year psychology student, Allyn Gail Lina, said she approves of having newly appointed officers, but she thinks that to qualify, they must exemplify first traits that would help the students.
“As we are all on board at the new Border-free classroom, the SG officers should actively respond to the queries and concerns given by their schoolmates,” said Lina.
