Updated- March 31, 5 p.m.- INDEPENDENT candidates won the Central Student Council elections last February despite their party’s failure to get accreditation because of fund liquidation problems.
Leandro Santos II led the sweep of this year’s student council elections by former Lakas Tomasino party bets, winning against Juan Paolo Perlada of the Alyansa ng Kristiyanong Lakas by a margin of more than 7,000 votes. Santos had 15,886 votes, while Perlada only had 8,784.
“I don’t believe that there were only sympathy votes just because there were a lot of independent candidates,” said Santos, Faculty of Arts and Letters student council president. “Thomasians are really thinking with regard to who they really want to be in position.”
Edrem Eula See of the College of Fine Arts and Design was elected vice president after garnering 15,343 votes against Aklas bet Joanna Grace Balaitan’s 8,842.
Kristine Mae Urbi and Franz Kevin Geronimo were elected secretary and treasurer, respectively.
Urbi of the Faculty of Pharmacy got a total of 14,180 votes, while Geronimo of the Faculty of Engineering received 14,126 votes. Aklas secretary and treasurer bets Faye Cortez and Patrick Jay Remo fell short with only 9,850 and 10,144 votes, respectively.
Joan Charmaine Lim of the College of Nursing won as auditor with 15,015 votes, while Brian Miguel Presto got only 9,067 votes.
College of Commerce’s John Ryan Sze was elected public relations officer after getting 11,212 votes versus Aklas’ Carina Mangilic and independent Justine Emmanuel Dizon, who had 7,027 and 6,333 votes, respectively.
In its official count released last February 24, the Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) said a total of 25,609 students, or more than 50 percent of the total students’ population, voted this year.
Ruling party Lakas Tomasino failed to get accreditation from the Central Comelec for failing to provide an official receipt for P540 used in its victory party last year.
Lakas Tomasino had called for disqualification of Perlada from the presidential race after it discovered that he got two failing grades from the College of Science. Perlada has since transferred to the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management.
The case was thrown out by the Central Judiciary Board last February 15, saying it was not the proper office to deal with the matter. Lakas Tomasino has appealed the case before the Central Comelec.
“As of now we are still in the process of deciding,” said Central Comelec president Yanna Umali.
Lakas Tomasino representative Randolph Clet said the party would push for a decision on the disqualification case despite it being “moot and academic.” Jennifer Ann G. Ambanta
