THE RULING Lakas Tomasino Coalition dominated the Central Student Council (CSC) elections anew as it grabbed four out of six posts, including the presidency.
LTC standard bearer and incumbent CSC secretary Ina Marie Angela Vergara of the Faculty of Pharmacy is the next council president, earning a lopsided victory over Lakas ng Diwang Tomasino (Lakasdiwa) bet Eisaku Ivan Bernardino of the College of Commerce and Business Administration.
Vergara, a fourth-year Clinical Pharmacy student, won a total of 16,273 votes, getting huge margin over the 9,634 votes obtained by Bernardino, incumbent president of Commerce student council.
“Hindi ko talaga akalaing mag-la-landslide [win] ako this year, knowing na kaunti lang ‘yung napasukan kong rooms at more on handshake campaign ako,” Vergara said in an interview with the Varsitarian after the proclamation of winners at the Quadricentennial Square last Feb. 22.
The next CSC vice president is Nursing junior Jose Ian Bautista (Lakasdiwa), who had a razor-thin edge against Occupational Therapy junior Elmo Luis Nicolas (LTC), incumbent external vice president of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences Student Council. Bautista, incumbent assistant secretary of the Nursing student council, got 12,641 votes, only 184 votes higher than the 12,457 votes obtained by Nicolas.
Pharmacy student Rosvielentine Rosales (Lakasdiwa) was proclaimed the next CSC secretary after getting 15,289 votes, 5,615 votes higher than the 9,674 votes obtained by rival Tiffany Keam Mercado (LTC) of Accountancy.
Philosophy junior and incumbent Faculty of Arts and Letters Student Council secretary Kristi Celyn Banks (LTC) clinched the post of CSC treasurer. She won a total of 15,296 votes, defeating Accountancy sophomore Dianne Rose Fuensalida (Lakasdiwa) who got 10,278 votes.
Travel Management student Patricia Alexis Canoza (LTC) is the next CSC auditor. She won 13,307 votes, 1,914 votes higher than Chemical Engineering junior Ann Christine Baual’s (Lakasdiwa) 11,393 votes.
For the position of public relations officer, Civil Engineering freshman John Jacob See (LTC) won 15,538 votes, beating fourth-year Architecture student Mark Mao Tao Yi (Lakasdiwa) who got 9,699 votes.
This year, the Central Commission on Elections partnered anew with the Varsitarian for the Botomasino voter-education drive. Turnout was higher this year as a total of 27,144 Thomasians voted in the CSC polls, compared with last year’s 26,768. Elections were held from February 19 to 21.
