THE UST Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) is facing a complaint over the alleged illegal conduct of the Central Student Council (CSC) special elections to fill the vacant vice president and treasurer posts.
The 17-page petition alleged that the special polls violated the UST Students’ Election Code (USEC), the CSC Constitution, and the Student Handbook.
It was addressed to the Central Judiciary Board and filed before the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) on Sept. 8 by a group of students composed of Rabin Bote (Faculty of Civil Law), Tobey Calayo (Graduate School), Ivan Arevalo, Brooks Relles, John Medina, Royce Cuyco, Naniela Lagunsad (Faculty of Arts and Letters), and Jeromeh Gustillo (College of Education).
The complaint stemmed from an Aug. 10 executive order of the Central Comelec that waived Article 1, Section 10 of the USEC, which requires candidates for president and vice president to be incumbent CSC members.
Article 1, Section 10 of the USEC states that “only members of the CSC Executive Board (EB), or in proper case, of the student assembly of the local unit concerned, shall be eligible for election in special elections.”
The petition asked the Central Judiciary Board to nullify the polls and restrict the winning candidates from assuming office.
Under Section 4.1 of the executive order, the Comelec opened the races to all students and dropped the established qualifications, the petitioners alleged.
Bote, the lead petitioner, told the Varsitarian that the Comelec’s decision to waive the requirements could set a dangerous precedent.
“Pwede siya mag-set precedent in the future, si Central Comelec pwede siyang mag-bend ng qualifications as it sees fit,” he said.
“If the Central Comelec can get away with this then this might also embolden other student organizations or student councils to violate the rules and regulations that need to be followed,” he added.
The petition further argued that according to Article 11 of the CSC Constitution, special elections are only for vacancies in both the presidency and vice presidency, not for vice president and treasurer.
Section 5 of Article 11 states that in case of vacancy in any other position, the CSC shall elect through secret ballot a replacement from the top three nominees of the Central Board, a body composed of local student council heads.
The chosen nominee will automatically vacate his or her local council post.
“Hindi nasunod ‘yong mechanics, and therefore unconstitutional ‘yong special elections. And therefore lahat ng candidates na tumakbo doon sa unconstitutional special elections, dapat void ab initio or void from the beginning,” Bote said.
Bote called on the Comelec to instead amend the USEC to address loopholes.
“If the Comelec provides for more lenient requirements for political party registration, then students will be incentivized to create political parties,” he said.
“[I]t may help address the lack of candidates running for local and central student councils,” he added.
Comelec earlier said it had yet to implement the updated USEC, used since 2011, as it was subject to review.
On Sept. 4, students Aron Josh Bernaldo of the College and Business Administration and Andrei Miguel Alcazar of the College of Rehabilitation Science filed a qualification complaint before the Comelec, questioning the candidacy of Rowen Oloresisimo, the lone candidate for vice president.
READ: Comelec proclaims new CSC treasurer; VP bet’s candidacy questioned | The Varsitarian
On Sept. 6, engineering senior Kojie Uy was proclaimed treasurer while the proclamation of Oloresisimo as vice president was put on hold due to questions about her eligibility.
Oloresisimo, a legal management junior, is not an incumbent CSC officer.
The Central Judiciary Board, composed of the CSC adviser, legal consultant of OSA, chief of the legal aid clinic of the Faculty of Civil Law, president of the Canon Law Society, and five duly authorized representatives of the CSC, has 15 days to decide.
The Varsitarian sought comments from the Central Comelec but it has yet to respond as of posting time. With reports from Czeantal Naomi P. Delos Santos and Carlo Jose H. Ruga
