25 January 2013, 12:18 a.m. – THREE political parties will contest this year’s Central Student Council (CSC) polls, after election officers gave recognition to a third party that had not been accredited for two years.
Alyansa ng Kristiyanong Lakas (Aklas) will join the rivals Lakas Tomasino Coalition (LTC) and Lakas ng Diwang Tomasino (Lakasdiwa) in seeking votes during the CSC elections from Feb. 7 to 15.
LTC and Lakasdiwa will each field candidates for all six CSC posts, while Aklas will have only four candidates, election officials said.
Aklas, which had not been accredited by the Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) since 2010, did not meet a requirement set by the Student Election Code of 2007 (SEC) for presidential and vice-presidential bets.
Aklas was unable to “recruit” incumbent officers of local student councils (LSCs) or the CSC as candidates for the top two posts, officers told the Varsitarian.
According to Article V, Sec.1 a. 2 or “Eligibility of Candidates and Certificates of Candidacy” of the SEC, “only incumbent officers of the CSC or LSC Executive Board are eligible to run as president and vice president of the CSC.”
The standard bearer of the ruling Lakas Tomasino Coalition, Speech and Language Pathology student and incumbent CSC vice president Raymond Angelo Gonzales, will run against Secondary Education junior and Education Student Council secretary Miyuki Morishita of Lakas ng Diwang Tomasino.
Running for vice president are Psychology junior Romulo Gabriel Kintanar (LTC) and Architecture senior Carl Vicent Palapal (Lakasdiwa), incumbent external vice president of the Science Student Council and vice president of the Architecture Student Council, respectively.
Pharmacy junior Ina Marie Angela Vergara (LTC), Communication Arts junior Katerina Ismail (Lakasdiwa), and Accountancy junior Ruzelle Escabuza (Aklas) are running for the position of CSC secretary.
Communication Arts junior and Arts and Letters vice president for internal affairs Ace Dominic Quebal (LTC), Accountancy junior John Joshua Canasa (Lakasdiwa), and Engineering senior Julius Augustus Apacible (Aklas) are the candidates for treasurer.
Travel Management sophomore Christine Claire Agra (LTC) will run against Marketing Management sophomore John Paul Gozun (Lakasdiwa) and Fine Arts junior Ivy Clarice Cruz (Aklas) for the position of auditor.
Information Systems freshman Dante Sebastian (LTC) will compete against Medical Technology sophomore Christelle Primaleon (Lakasdiwa) and Pharmacy freshman Angelo Christian de Guzman (Aklas) for public relations officer.
Comelec chairperson Sittie Najliah Azis said the official list of candidates won’t be released until Jan. 30 to give time for the filing of protests against the candidates.
The qualifications protest period will be from Jan. 23-29. The campaign period will run from Jan. 31-Feb. 13 while the mandatory debate or “miting de avance” will be on Feb. 13 at the Quadricentennial Park. Proclamation of winners will be on Feb. 16.
Voter turnout must be at least 25 percent of the student population, otherwise, failure of elections will be declared.
Last year’s election had a voter turnout of 64.27 percent, with 26,864 students voting out of the UST student population of 41,799.
Bernadette D. Nicolas and Cez Mariela Teresa G. Verzosa with reports from Reden D. Madrid
