SEVEN Thomasians filed their candidacies for five positions in the UST Central Student Council (CSC) Executive Board elections for Academic Year (AY) 2026-2027.
This year’s elections will have more candidates – with aspirants for president, vice president, secretary, and public relations officer (PRO) – compared with the 2025 regular elections, which had five.
However, the candidates for president, vice president, and treasurer are unopposed, and there is no candidate for auditor this year.
Only the posts of secretary and PRO have more than one candidate.
Incumbent CSC President Annie Agon is seeking another term. She took a leave of absence, effective until April 26, before filing her candidacy.
This marks the first time in two years that a candidate is running for president.
Agon, a legal management junior, ran for vice president in the AY 2025-2026 elections and later assumed the presidency after the position was declared vacant.
Agon said she would continue efforts to restore a “militant” CSC while finishing key initiatives from her term, including the drafting of the Magna Carta of Students and the revised CSC Constitution.
She also plans to collect more student input before finalizing the two documents.
Legal management junior Franz Salangsang filed her candidacy for vice president.
Salangsang had served as secretary of the UST Artlets Student Council, and became the council’s acting external vice president and auditor before filing a leave of absence to run for the CSC.
She vowed to strengthen collaboration among the CSC, local student councils, and University-wide and college-based organizations to help bridge the gap between student leaders and their constituents.
First to file for candidacy is philosophy junior Clarence Mindo of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, who is running for secretary.
Mindo is the director for community development of UST Hiraya. He previously served as president of UST Concilium Philosophiae.
He told the Varsitarian that he would bridge the “disconnect” between the CSC and the student body by offering his skills and commitment to service.
“I wish to reshape the common perception of the CSC secretary position as ‘glorified office work position,’ when we can do more with the position when it comes to genuine student representation,” he said.
Psychology sophomore Elijah Viola also filed his candidacy for secretary, becoming the second candidate for the post.
Viola, the director for the CSC secretariat, said he would create an environment where Thomasians could feel safe to raise concerns without fear of repression.
Through his platforms “Kaagapay” and “Bukas Palad,” he hopes to strengthen collaboration while promoting mental health awareness and encouraging open discourse within the Thomasian community.Communication junior Zedrich Daz of the Faculty of Arts and Letters filed his candidacy for treasurer.
Daz, the CSC finance committee director and assistant treasurer of Tomcat, said his experience in the council over the past two terms motivated him to seek the position.
Among his key proposals is the creation of a system that will streamline and organize councils’ access to information about their funds to ensure more efficient budget allocation.
“Our main goal is to maximize our service to the Thomasian community and one step to achieve that is fixing the system,” Daz said.
Pharmacy sophomore Errol Arvy Salamatin filed his candidacy for public relations officer.
Salamatin, a former staff of the CSC’s Office of the PRO, said he would highlight the struggles of student scholars, particularly academic demands and scholarship retention requirements.
“Hindi dapat ito’y nagiging isang paraan para sa mga nagbigay ng scholarship sa atin, na maging empleyado nila,” he told the Varsitarian.
Architecture senior Mecaella Capalar is the second candidate to file for the public relations officer post.
Capalar is the director of the CSC’s education and research committee under the Office of the President.
“Ang primary na gagawin ko [ay ang] pagtataguyod ng genuine public relations sa pamamagitan ng pag-standardize nito through a PRO manual,” Capalar said. “Itatakwil natin yung traditional and limited function ng PRO.”
The campaign period will begin on March 10, while the Tagisan, a mandatory debate and platform presentation where candidates discuss their plans and answer questions from moderators, is scheduled on April 18.
The canvassing of votes and the proclamation of winning candidates will take place on April 25. With reports from Sydney Venice V. Berba and Micah G. Pascua
