BECAUSE of the lackluster celebration of AB Week, the president of the Arts and Letters Student Council (ABSC) is facing calls for impeachment.
In a letter dated March 21, a group of Artlets students said ABSC President Rafael Arellano, a legal management senior, violated the ABSC constitution “for his incompetence as a council president which most Artlets deem as palpable.”
“The current council perpetuates the culture of inefficiency in addressing the issues of the studentry,” said the letter, addressed to the Artlets Board of Majors (BOM) composed of society presidents.
The group of Artlets aired their disappointment over the council’s handling of the college week celebration in February, which they said was “disorganized and painfully unbearable.”
They also cried foul over the council’s failure to release official merchandise, saying some students did not receive the goods they had paid for.
Arellano has yet to respond to requests for comment on the impeachment complaint.
In a memorandum released on Saturday, the BOM clarified that the complaint is not yet an impeachment case. BOM members have yet to meet to “deliberate on the substance and gravity” of the claims, it said.
BREAKING: Artlets' Board of Majors, composed of society presidents in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, identifies the complainants in an impeachment complaint vs Artlets SC President Rafael Arellano. pic.twitter.com/K6GGdMI9NG
— The Varsitarian (@varsitarianust) March 23, 2019
The BOM said it opted to withhold the identity of the complainants as it had yet to notify Arellano of the complaint.
The 2005 constitution of the ABSC states that a council officer may be impeached on grounds such as “willful or culpable violation of any provisions of the constitution,” “gross negligence of duties” and “abusive use of power,” to name a few.
The complaint was filed a week before the filing of candidacies for local student elections on March 27, according to the official calendar of activities by the Artlets Commission on Elections.
Arellano was elected speaker of the Central Board, the legislative body of the Central Student Council composed of local student council presidents, in August of last year.
