THE VOTES are in. And a clear majority of Thomasians wants incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to continue as president during the campus-wide mock elections last March 10.
President Macapagal earned 1,415 out of the total 3,140 votes cast, which is around 10 per cent of the student population of UST. She was followed by Raul Roco with 885 votes. Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Bro. Eddie Villanueva trailed behind with 502 and 123 votes, respectively. Actor Fernando Poe Jr., the frontrunner, garnered 118 votes.
Meanwhile, it was a close race for vice-president between Senators Noli De Castro and Loren Legarda. The former got 1,120, the latter 1,046.
The results were in stark contrast to the results of the mock elections at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, in which Poe, a high school dropout who has refused to explain his platform or agreed to debate with the other candidates, won by a wide margin.
The results gratified University leaders. “They show that Thomasians are discriminating,” said Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Dr. Armando de Jesus, a social scientist. “They show that Thomasians know how to discern.”
Meanwhile, in the mock senatorial elections, Richard Gordon, Manuel Roxas III, Alfredo Lim, Robert Barbers, Rodolfo Biazon, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Orlando Mercado, Pia Juliana-Cayetano, Perfecto Yasay, John Osmeña, and Juan Ponce-Enrile took the Top 12.
According to Zenaida Famorca, a member of the University’s Voters’ Education Initiative (VEI) and adviser of the UST Central Comelec, students as well as academic and non-academic personnel voted in the mock elections. She also explained that although the only 3,140 people voted, the percentage was enough to show the voting preference of Thomasians. “The results really showed the pulse of Thomasians,” she said.
Famorca attributed the low turnout to the fact the mock election was held a week before the final examinations.
Polling places were set up in the lobbies of different buildings. Separate ballot boxes were given for students and non-students. This was done so that VEI would determine the voting trend of the students in contrast with the older non-student population.
The choice of Macapagal for president did not surprise many since the President has had close contacts with the University, especially since her parents, the late President Diosdado Macapagal and the late first lady Evangeline Macaraeg, were true-blue Thomasians.
Last February, when President Macapagal launched her scholarship program in UST, she told Thomasians about how her parents met when the Varsitarian published in 1936 the feat of her father in landing first in the bar exams that year. She said the newspaper acted as bridge between her parents and made them fall in love with each other.
When she was senator and vice-president, Macapagal was often invited to forums in UST. She would even accept invitations to brief the Dominican community of UST on pressing political and economic matters. Mary Abigail S. Austriaco with reports from Brix Gil M. Bayuga
