When was the last time I wrote something – something worth reading, insightful, substantial? It’s been more than six months since I was last given a minute assignment for KATIPUNAN. The last article I wrote was a news feature on the newly elected Sanggunian officers. I worked hard on that article, knowing that it would be my first full page article to be published. After waiting for more than six months, no news was given about the publication. I never told anyone how hard it was for me to accept that even once, I was not granted the chance to see my by-line in sections of the magazine other than the minutes pages. But still, I continued to hang on to KATIPUNAN hoping that I would get my big break soon.
Nonetheless, let me indulge myself with the freedom to publish my article. Just so that I'd be able to say that it was indeed "published".
On Relevance of Student Governance
By Almira V. Uy
The Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral recently surprised everyone, including its own officers, with the resignation of its current president Karl Satinitigan. Apart from his resignation, other top Sanggu officers also resigned from their posts late last year explaining that they have chosen to prioritize their studies above anything else. Meanwhile, Satinitigan’s signing off from his post was only revealed to public after Cabrei Cabreira, appointed Sanggu president, announced on February 7 her taking-over. The issues surrounding the Sanggunian now triggered the student body to question the relevance and visibility of the Student Council to the Ateneo community.
Reasons behind its fallback
Satinitigan’s resignation is not considered as the sole reason for the Sanggu’s current rocky situation. But losing Satinitigan is compared as to being “beheaded” as Pepi Sison (BS HSc ’10), SY 2008-2009 Secretary General states. She tells how the Student Council has become a handicapped system after Satinitigan left. The remaining officers are obliged to take up more workload in replacement of those who have left the Council. Aside from Cabrera replacing Satinitigan, other representatives take up the positions of the officers who resigned along with the obligations they hold. However, Satinitigan’s resignation is only part of the problems that Sanggu continues to experience. Newly elected Sanggunian president Omi Castañar (AB DevS ’09) tells that Satinitigan’s resignation must “not be an excuse” for the rest of the Sanggunian to not fulfill their responsibilities for the student body. There are 43 other officers who can work together and accomplish the tasks left behind.
“One of the main problems about the Sanggu was how the Council does not assert its roles as a representation of the community,” Castañar relates. The Sanggunian has failed to communicate between and among the students. Lack of interaction with the community has led to doubts on Sanggu’s visibility to the students. This leads to the issue of the alarming number of abstainees from the past and current elections. Candidates running for different positions have lost to abstain, mainly because, as the student voters defend, they [voters] were not familiar to the candidates of both parties. They believe that choosing to abstain is more efficient than voting for candidates they do not know. Nonetheless, Sison defends that voters who abstain mainly chose to do so, not because of apathy, but simply due to unfamiliarity or unawareness of the candidates.
In addition to lack of representation to the community, Sanggu, as Castañar states, has failed to support its roles to other organizations, including sectors and units. Primarily, the Sanggunian is elected by the students in order for the Council to extend its hands to other organizations within the community and to organize events for the sectors and units. The Sanggunian originally possessed the mandate to handle everything; however, privatization problems have occurred and have led Sanggu to leave all the projects to the decision of the different orgs. This situation has revealed Sanggu’s lack of coordination with regards to organizing events and managing the organizations. “Sanggu has shown itself as an inefficient body filled with problems,” says Castañar.
Apart from issues on representation, Sison adds that “lack of permanency” has become a problem for the Sanggunian. She considers that a year is not enough for their projects to be fully accomplished. The secretary-general says that there is no continuity of work and goals; the inability of completing all the designed projects for one year signify not appreciating or understanding what a certain project would give to the student body. Moreover, the differences in the goals or platforms of each batch of officers contribute to the partial completion of the previous projects.
Party Politics?
Besides the external issues experienced by Sanggu, internal party politics has been rumored to have affected the working force of Sanggu. Party politics covers the issue on certain political parties working together under one student council. Representatives from Ibig Agila, Partido Ignacio or independent partisans are expected by the voters to disregard the parties they’re coming from and work together as a single group. In line with this, Sison, who have worked with Sanggu for more than two years, firmly believes that there is no party politics going on inside the Sanggunian. “Those are just rumors,” Sison said. Furthermore, she adds that party politics may have occurred only during campaign periods, but other than that, the officers work well with each other. Also, Sison says that they [officers] do not choose the people they work with, but leave it to the student body’s decision. In line with Sison’s statements, Jojo Dumrique (AB MEco ’11), SOSS Executive Officer, states that having political parties enable the representatives to have their personal principles agree with their respective parties. Belonging to a party means having people back you up and support your beliefs when it comes to serving the student body.
Meanwhile, issues on independent partisans are considered another story. Castañar who ran independently during the most recent elections, admits that the most common problem of autonomous candidates like him is finding resources. Campaign materials, number of supporters and the campaign itself are the main problems an independent candidate like Castañar had to put up with. He also says that two weeks is not enough for the candidates to introduce themselves to the voters and for the partisans to explain their platforms. Moreover, being independent, Castañar fears that students would vote for him, only because he was different from the rest of the candidates. He wanted the students to vote for him because they share a common belief through his platforms. Nonetheless, Castañar remains thankful for having won the 2008-2009 Sanggu elections.
Two-way Blame
However, for an effective Student Council to be fully appreciated, it must be a two-way process. Aside from the Sanggunian working for the student body, the students are entitled to help Sanggu as well. And as the issue on relevance has been opened, students are expected to react and to voice out whatever they have to say about Sanggu. The Gadfly Society, which published its comments on the net regarding Satinitigan’s non-enrollment, opened ways, in Castañar’s opinion, for students to realize what has been happening to the Student Council. The group’s statement triggers questions on the part of the readers and to those who are concerned about the issue. Moreover, Dumrique indicates that Gadfly Society gave off a sign that Sanggu must start giving the students what they need and what they want. Otherwise students, other than Gadfly Society, would continue to awaken and to help students realize the issues concerning the Sanggunian.
Defining relevance from irrelevance
And as a new year is given to Sanggu, the Council is given the chance to prove its relevance to the whole community. And to be relevant, according to Dumrique, is to be able to show that one fulfills his part and continues to show his purpose. Meanwhile, Sison relates that being irrelevant is not answering the students’ needs. Along with this, she indicates that a reason why students think that Sanggu has become irrelevant to them is because there is no leveling of expectations. “Hindi nagtutugma. [they both do not coincide.]” And in order for both sides to appreciate each other, there must be a leveling of expectations. Students should be able to know what the Sanggunian can do for them, and what the students expect Sanggu to do for them as well.
On Gaining Back the Trust
In order to bring back the relevance and the original reputation of the Sanggunian, certain steps must be taken by the Council. Castañar shares that the main solution is to gain back the trust of the students and the organizations. This is accomplished by simultaneously working with other groups in order to obtain proper coordination. A lot of projects have been organized in the past years, but little participations have been given to these activities. Castañar believes that if these organizations who come up with projects serving the same purpose can group together to form a bigger project, better feedback can be expected. Aside from that, Dumrique emphasizes on focusing on quality versus quantity. This involves knowing what the basic needs of the students are and concentrating on these essentials. Furthermore, he states that the Sanggunian officers must set an example as student leaders to the rest of the student body. And to be effective student leaders means being able to give service to their constituents and balancing work with their academics.
With these steps, Sanggu may still be capable of changing its reputation and proving its relevance to the Ateneo community. “It will be a year of change,” says Castañar. Although these changes do not refer to radical changes in the constitutions, he affirms that the Sanggunian will continue doing their job and what they are supposed to do. And this involves gaining back the trust and improving Sanggu’s poor performance, as reflected by the students’ opinions. It will be a change of identity, from being irrelevant to a stronger and more transparent Student Council. Sison adds that as it becomes a year of change, the Sanggunian continues to learn from the past and to make up for the mistakes it has committed.
