Updated- March 2, 5:40 p.m.- EMBATTLED UST Faculty Union president Gil Gamilla was re-elected for a fresh five-year term, despite the alleged misuse of an estimated P9.5 million under his watch.
Gamilla won over close rival Jove Jim Aguas of the Truth, Accountability, Participation, Advancement, and Transparency (TAPAT) party by 23 votes. Gamilla got 503 votes, Aguas had 480, while 40 abstained.
The highest discrepancy in votes came from the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery where Gamilla, who is a professor at the faculty, got 163 votes, while Aguas had only 10.
“Aguas was ahead of Gamilla when we were counting the first ballot boxes that reached us,” election chair Elvira Milo said. “Gamilla just overtook him when the last three ballot boxes were counted.”
The last three ballot boxes were from Medicine, the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, and the Faculty of Engineering, she added.
In other positions, TAPAT outnumbered Gamilla’s The Achievers party with Patrick Go elected as vice president internal, James Platon (vice president for labor), Reynaldo Reyes (vice president for grievance and complaints), Noel Asiones (vice president for legal affairs), Myrna de Vera (public relations officer), Evangeline Timbang (secretary general), and Rene Tadle (sergeant-at-arms).
The Achievers had George Lim as executive vice president, Rebecca Castro (vice president external), Aurora Domingo (treasurer), and Marie Guanzon (auditor).
Go, Asiones, Reyes, and De Vera were uncontested in their respective positions.
In an interview following the counting of votes last February 26, Gamilla promised to address the fraud mess that had prompted a group of faculty members to demand his ouster.
“[But] definitely, we will correct all these things,” he said, apparently referring to the alleged irregularity in the disbursement of some P9.5 million in union.
Gamilla and union vice president Gil Garcia are being accused of releasing the amount to lend to Saturn Resources, Inc., a property developer, without the approval of the membership. The money was supposed to be used to build condominium units for the UST faculty in 2006.
Garcia, who filed his “irrevocable resignation” before the union board last year before the controversy was made public late last year, did not join this year’s elections. Prinz P. Magtulis
