BOTOmasino, the Varsitarian’s special coverage on the Central Student Council (CSC) elections, afforded student electorate a chance to size up the candidates to the CSC for student governance next school-year. It also afforded everyone the chance to check the quality of student leaders and chart the future of the country since it’s a given that many of the student politicians would assume leadership positions – sectoral, local, national, and even international—in the future.
The immediate view is cynical—that student politicians are only priming themselves up in order to get votes; that good looks and a glib tongue have proved effective in generating votes, never mind sincerity, vision, competence, political will, and leadership; that the failure of the past student governments could be gauged from the fact that the proposed UST Code of Students Rights has not been finalized, much less ratified despite the many years that have lapsed since the time it was initially drafted and approved.
It is fortunate that the Varsitarian had been given the chance to join BOTOmasino if only to contribute to an exchange of views on what really ailed student governments and campus leadership. It is good that BOTOmasino was able to help student voters make an educated choice.
The whole exercise should show that electoral maturity is very fundamental in determining the quality and maturity of student leadership. It should show that voters deserve the kind of leaders they vote for. It should show that there’s a dynamic complementarity between student leaders and student voters.
If it was any indication, the the nearly 9,000 views of BOTOmasino videos on Youtube before the elections closed should indicate that the campaign was able to raise awareness among the Thomasian community. Whether this translated to active participation in the elections, only the Comelec could say, Most important, whether the right decisions were made or not on election day, could only be determined in the next academic year.
