Updated- March 2, 5:40 p.m.- DESPITE clamors for his resignation over the alleged illegal release of P9.5 million in union funds for a housing project, embattled UST Faculty Union president Gil Gamilla will run for re-election to “clear” his name.
“When you are already accused guilty without due process, it is only right to clear your name, and the only way I can clear my name is to run for the elections,” he said in an interview.
Gamilla will be facing philosophy professor Jove Jim Aguas, president of the Accountancy Faculty Association, in the elections for new faculty union officers on February 26.
Gamilla, who has been union president for 14 years, said he was on a “lose-lose situation.”
“If I won’t run, [the opposition] would say, ‘See? hindi tumakbo, kasi may kasalanan e,’ it’s like there’s no way to go. Whatever you do is wrong. I am prejudged,” he said. “I will face them in court if they file a case against me.”
Gamilla and union vice president Gil Garcia are being accused of releasing P9.5 million from union coffers without the approval of the membership. The money was lent to Saturn Resources, Inc., a property developer supposed to build condominium units for the UST faculty in 2006.
A group of faculty members has demanded accountability from Gamilla and Garcia, asking the former not to run anymore for the upcoming elections out of delicadeza. Garcia submitted an “irrevocable resignation” last year before the dispute became public.
Union secretary general Ma. Lourdes Medina said the upcoming union elections would be a “test of intelligence.”
“[This election] would be a test of intelligence of the faculty members to make right choices. This will show their character on discerning or differentiating the truth and non-truth,” she said.
Medina was one of the nine union officers who released a petition titled “A Call to Fidelity,” detailing the controversy to the whole union membership. The nine officers namely vice president for grievance Jose Ngo, vice president for legal affairs Mark Maramba, vice president external Irma Potenciano, Medina, sergeant-at-arms Celso Nierra, and directors Dante Jose Mercado, Elizabeth Arenas, Juanita Subaldo, and Emerito Gonzales, will not run in the elections.
Medicine professor Nerissa Santos said there was nothing wrong with Gamilla’s candidacy, adding that she would vote for him.
“I still have faith in [Gamilla]. He has done a lot for the faculty,” she said. “[Let us] not forget the good things that Gamilla had done only because of the housing project controversy.”
Ralph Galan, secretary of the Arts and Letters Faculty Association that earlier lodged a petition calling for Gamilla’s resignation or impeachment, said Gamilla’s re-election bid was “in bad form.”
“All the current officers of the [union] should not run to give a new set of officers a fresh start and a clean slate in running the faculty union,” he said.
Aguas will be running under the Truth, Accountability, Participation, Advancement and Transparency party or TAPAT, whose line-up includes Elvis Llarena (executive vice president), Patrick Go (vice president internal), Renato Lucas (vice president external), Noel Asiones (vice president for legal affairs), Reynaldo Reyes (vice president for grievance and complaints), James Platon (vice president for labor), Zenaida Velasco (treasurer), Evangeline Timbang (secretary general), Shirley Ireneo (auditor), Rene Tadle (sergeant-at-arms), and Myrna de Vera (public relations officer). Recto Calingasan, Teresita Manansala, Rebecca Adri, Corazon Dumawal, John Vincent Ignacio, Ma. Rosario Virginia Garcia, Gemma Aboy, and Nestor Noble are running for board membership.
Other candidates are George Lim running for executive vice president, Rebecca Castro (vice president external), Redario Laygo (vice president for labor), Aurora Domingo (treasurer), Raymund Melegrito (secretary general), Stephen Buñi (sergeant-at-arms), and Marie Guanzon (auditor). Alicia Erese, Diane Dy, Leticia del Rosario, Maria Corazon Unas, Alberto Paulino, Revenendo Vargas, Remedios Garcia, Beatriz Ribleza, and George Chao are aspiring for board membership.
Since there are no other candidates for the positions of vice president internal, vice president for legal affairs, vice president for grievance and public relations officer, Go, Asiones, Reyes, and De Vera of TAPAT are automatic winners, Medina claimed.
Non-tenured not allowed to vote
Aguas said his run for the presidency was a collective decision of individuals sharing the same commitment to the union.
“Pinag-isipan ko nang matagal. I accepted the position because personally, I don’t back out on responsibility,” he said.
If he wins, Aguas said he would study amendments to the union’s constitution, particularly term limits for the president.
“There is no limit on the term of the president. One can run as long as he [or she] wants. [But I believe that the faculty] should always be given the opportunity to choose other leaders granted that all of us (faculty members) are professionals,” he said.
However, he expressed uncertainty on his chances of winning.
“Numbers-wise, it is difficult to say that I could win. However, I just have to trust the wisdom of the faculty members. I cannot compete with Dr. Gamilla’s achievement,” Aguas said.
Vice president for grievances Ngo revealed that Gamilla did not want lecturers and non-tenured faculty members to participate in the February 26 union elections.
“It might be a political maneuver in his part,” Ngo said.
Ngo cited the rule on the union’s constitution and by-laws, which says that “all [union] members in good standing shall be eligible to vote in election.”
Gamilla said “members in good standing” means tenured members of the union.
“If you are a member of the union in good standing, you are qualified to vote, which means that you are a tenured faculty member,” he said, daring Ngo to show proof that non-tenured faculty were allowed to vote during the 2005 elections.
Amalia Castro, member of the union’s commission on elections, said the commission would follow what is stated on the union’s constitution and by-laws.
“We are waiting for the list of the members [who will participate in the elections]. The list will come from [union] board,” Castro said. Cliff Harvey C. Venzon
In a democracy every one has a chance to prove himself. Contesting the elections to prove one’s innocence is not a new thing. But, in certain instances, the wrong ones get elected, there by giving a chance to the critiques of democracy. Gamilla is a case in hand.